Reading list

[roke]

Just finished reading King Ralph: The Political Life And Success Of Ralph Klein and I would have to say it was a jolly good read. The book told of his campaigns prior to entering the media as well as his political life (Mayor of Calgary and Premier of Alberta). It isn't an official biography however, as the authour Don Martin explains he did speak with Mr. Klein and many of his "inner circle". If you're interested in Alberta politics I'd definitely reccomend reading it.

[Tattac]

M. said:

Ah, I was going to say in my previous post that Name of the Rose is one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read. I like the film adaptation very much as well - Sean Connery was, to my mind, perfectly cast as William of Baskerville (which leads me to ask - are you a Sherlock Holmes fan?).

Disgruntled70sHab said:

This is easily one of my all-time fave movies, Mr.B. Movies that are different catch my attention immediatel, and this film had an original storyline and was well casted.

No doubt the book must have been excellent.

I heard about the book long before I watched the movie. I could write a lot about it but the English language of this commentary seems to be better. It is a very good site for those who like Eco by the way.

[Tattac]

Blaise said:

Boris Godunov is performed very often in the West (I have seen it many times. I have also seen Khovanschchina several times, although the text is by Mussorgsky rather than Pushkin). The Tchaikovsky operas The Queen of Spades and Eugene Onegin are performed fairly often. The other two I mentioned are rarities.

I understand what you are saying. But I think these operas are well-known not because of Pushkin but because of Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky. I have never heard people from the West talk as much about Pushkin or Lermontov as they talk about Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy or Chekhov. Though in Russia the former two writers are no less popular, respected and read than the latter three are.

I visited the Nevskygorod monastery last summer and saw Pushkin's grave. As I'm sure you know, Dostoyevsky, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and other luminaries are buried in the same section of the cemetry.

I visited the Novodevichy monastery last summer and saw graves of Gogol and Bulgakov, and…too many to mention.

[blaise]

Tattac said:

I understand what you are saying. But I think these operas are well-known not because of Pushkin but because of Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky. I have never heard people from the West talk as much about Pushkin or Lermontov as they talk about Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy or Chekhov. Though in Russia the former two writers are no less popular, respected and read than the latter three are.



I visited the Novodevichy monastery last summer and saw graves of Gogol and Bulgakov, and…too many to mention.

I enjoyed Goncharov's Oblomov. I've read some poetry by Anna Akhmatova

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

MC said:

Thanks. I actually read the introduction to that [4 Arguments for the Elimination of Television] a while back and found it interesting. Perhaps I'll get a copy and read it this summer.

Don't know if you're familiar with Paul Watzlawick's work.
How Real Is Real?
and
The Situation Is Hopeless, but Not Serious are well worth a read, IMO.

[Rimmer]

here are the titles that i've read most recently:

1. Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch - a great and easy read about writer's obsession with football (soccer) and his favourite club, Arsenal London; a hollywood movie had been filmed based on this book but the story was moved to the US and Boston Red Sox; High fidelity is another one of his books that had been adapted (see here

2. Amy Goodman, The exception to the rulers - a book that exposes the connections between american politicians, big corporations and the media; I liked it more than Moore's books on the similar subject here

3. I just started reading JRR Tolkien, The shaping of middle earth - it's a collection of his writings that had been edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien; only recommended for the die-hard fans of Tolkien's work

a habs fan in Toronto has just sent me Larry Robinson's To the defence so I guess that's next on the menu for me

oh yeah, Million dollar baby: Stories From The Corner by F.X. Toole is something I also recommend

R.

p.s.
sorry, Tattac, no croatian or ex-yugoslavian literature

[blaise]

Rimmer said:

here are the titles that i've read most recently:

1. Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch - a great and easy read about writer's obsession with football (soccer) and his favourite club, Arsenal London; a hollywood movie had been filmed based on this book but the story was moved to the US and Boston Red Sox; High fidelity is another one of his books that had been adapted (see here

2. Amy Goodman, The exception to the rulers - a book that exposes the connections between american politicians, big corporations and the media; I liked it more than Moore's books on the similar subject here

3. I just started reading JRR Tolkien, The shaping of middle earth - it's a collection of his writings that had been edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien; only recommended for the die-hard fans of Tolkien's work

a habs fan in Toronto has just sent me Larry Robinson's To the defence so I guess that's next on the menu for me

oh yeah, Million dollar baby: Stories From The Corner by F.X. Toole is something I also recommend

R.

p.s.
sorry, Tattac, no croatian or ex-yugoslavian literature

Amy Goodman handles herself adroitly. She often bodychecks the conservative talking heads into the boards when they appear together with her on TV talk shows. I like that because there simply are too many conservative guests--and moderators--for fair balance. Crooks like G. Gordon Liddy and Oliver North and clerical-fascist-lovers like Pat Buchanan (an admirer of Franco, Pinochet, and J. Edgar Hoover) are overexposed IMO.

[HabbaDasher]

Can anyone recommend any Leneord Cohen?
Mr. B's avatar has made me realize I am almost completely unfamiliar with our local legend's work.
Shame on me.
And can anyone tell me the correct spelling of the name "Leonard" ?
Shame on me again....

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

HabbaDasher said:

Can anyone recommend any Leneord Cohen?
Mr. B's avatar has made me realize I am almost completely unfamiliar with our local legend's work.
Shame on me.
And can anyone tell me the correct spelling of the name "Leonard" ?
Shame on me again....

Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs is an excellent anthology to start. It stops at 1993, but by the time you've finished reading it you will be able to pick your way through the broad and deep topical and stylistic scope of Cohen's canon.

I'm Your Man is IMO the best of his recordings.

Enjoy.

*

The Leonard Cohen Files

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Tattac said:

I heard about the book long before I watched the movie. I could write a lot about it but the English language of this commentary seems to be better. It is a very good site for those who like Eco by the way.

Thanks Tattac, I enjoyed reading the opinion.

I'm going to look at getting the book once I have more time on my hands. While I liked the movie's ending, I'm interested in reading the book's ending as referred to in the column you posted.

Still, one of my all-time fave movies by far. Outstanding casting, acting, et al. Thanks again.

Cheers.

[Tattac]

Rimmer said:

sorry, Tattac, no croatian or ex-yugoslavian literature

Ohh...I hoped you would help me

I don’t know much about ex-Yugoslavian literature. Actually I know only two writers. I really enjoyed reading My Family’s Role in the World Revolution by Bora Cosic. And I also read a lot of works of Milorad Pavic. Cosic is close to reality and Pavic is a like a modern story-teller.

[Rimmer]

Tattac said:

Ohh...I hoped you would help me

I don’t know much about ex-Yugoslavian literature. Actually I know only two writers. I really enjoyed reading My Family’s Role in the World Revolution by Bora Cosic. And I also read a lot of works of Milorad Pavic. Cosic is close to reality and Pavic is a like a modern story-teller.

never heard of either one...

Pavao Pavlicic, Zoran Feric, Ante Tomic, Miljenko Jergovic, Goran Tribuson are some of the croatian contemporary writers that you might find interesting but I don't know what was translated to english or russian (I believe Jergovic's Sarajevo Marlboro has been translated to english and some of Feric's work has been published in Germany).

as for the croatian classics, there is Miroslav Krleza, Antun Gustav Matos, Vladimir Nazor, August Senoa (you really might like his novels)... and also poems by Ivan Goran Kovacic, Tin Ujevic and Dobrisa Cesaric might be worth reading for those who like poetry, provided there is english translation, of course.

oh, and i almost forgot Ivo Andric, the winner of the 1961. Nobel prize in literature (see on the amazon)

hope this helps at least a little bit...

R.

[HabbaDasher]

M. said:

Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs is an excellent anthology to start. It stops at 1993, but by the time you've finished reading it you will be able to pick your way through the broad and deep topical and stylistic scope of Cohen's canon.

I'm Your Man is IMO the best of his recordings.

Enjoy.

*

The Leonard Cohen Files

Super!
Thanks, Mr.B...

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Rimmer said:

never heard of either one...

Pavao Pavlicic, Zoran Feric, Ante Tomic, Miljenko Jergovic, Goran Tribuson are some of the croatian contemporary writers that you might find interesting but I don't know what was translated to english or russian (I believe Jergovic's Sarajevo Marlboro has been translated to english and some of Feric's work has been published in Germany).

as for the croatian classics, there is Miroslav Krleza, Antun Gustav Matos, Vladimir Nazor, August Senoa (you really might like his novels)... and also poems by Ivan Goran Kovacic, Tin Ujevic and Dobrisa Cesaric might be worth reading for those who like poetry, provided there is english translation, of course.

oh, and i almost forgot Ivo Andric, the winner of the 1961. Nobel prize in literature (see on the amazon)

hope this helps at least a little bit...

R.

FWIW, a brief search on amazon.com returned the following authors and titles as available in English translation. No poetry though :

Miroslav Krleza - The Return of Philip Latinowicz, On the Edge of Reason, The Banquet in Blitva

Mesa Selimovic - The Fortress, Death and the Dervish

Miljenko Jergovic - Sarajevo Marlboro

Milorad Pavic - Landscape Painted with Tea, Dictionary of the Khazars, Last Love in Constantinople: A Tarot Novel for Divination, The Inner Side of the Wind, or The Novel of Hero and Leander

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

The Reality of Henry Miller
by Kenneth Rexroth
1959

It is a wonderful thing that some of Henry Miller’s work at last is coming out in a popular edition in the United States. Henry Miller is a really popular writer, a writer of and for real people, who, in other countries, is read, not just by highbrows, or just by the wider public which reads novels, but by common people, by the people who, in the United States, read comic books. As the Southern mountain woman said of her hero son, dead in Korea, “Mister, he was sure a great reader, always settin’ in the corner with a piece of cold bread and one of them funny books.” In Czech and Japanese, this is the bulk of Miller’s public. In the United States he has been kept away from a popular public and his great novels have been banned; therefore only highbrows who could import them from France have read him.

I once crossed the Atlantic — eighteen days in a Compagnie Générale Transatlantique freighter — with a cabin mate, a French African Negro, who was only partially literate, but who was able to talk for hours on the comparative merits of Black Spring and the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. When he found out I came from California and knew Miller, he started treating me as if I were an archangel newly descended, and never tired of questions about le Beeg Sur and les camarades de M’sieu Millaire. He had a mental picture of poor Henry living on a mountain-top, surrounded by devoted handmaids and a bevy of zoot-suited existentialist jitterbugs.

This picture, I have discovered, is quite commonly believed in by people who should have better sense. Miners in the Pyrenees, camel drivers in Tlemcen, gondoliers in Venice, and certainly every poule in Paris, when they hear you’re from California, ask, first thing, in one voice, “Do you know M’sieu Millaire?” This doesn’t mean he isn’t read by the intellectuals, the cultured people over there. He is. In fact, I should say he has become part of the standard repertory of reading matter everywhere but in England and the United States. If you have read Balzac, or Baudelaire, or Goethe, you are also expected to have read Miller. He is certainly one of the most widely read American writers, along with Upton Sinclair, Jack London, Fenimore Cooper, William Faulkner and Erskine Caldwell.

This is the way it should be. Nothing was sadder than the “proletarian novelist” of a few years back, the product of a sociology course and a subscription to a butcher-paper weekly, eked out with a terrified visit to a beer parlor on the other side of the tracks and a hasty scurry past a picket line. Nobody read him but other Greenwich Village aesthetes like himself. The people Henry Miller writes about read him. They read him because he gives them something they cannot find elsewhere in print. It may not be precisely the real world, but it is nearer to it than most other writing, and it is certainly nearer than most so-called realistic writing.

- www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/henrymiller.htm

[blaise]

Henry Miller wasn't that honest and original. He was not above writing scatological things for their shock effect, such as, "I'd ExtraLOVE anything from an ant to an elephant." That 'gem' didn't come from his life experience or from his personnae. It came from nowhere, like a high hard one he threw at his readers' heads to get their attention, to get them unnerved and backing away from the plate. In retrospect, Miller's writings can be safely passed over, especially with the plots and dialogues one encounters in today's films.

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Blaise said:

Henry Miller wasn't that honest and original. He was not above writing scatological things for their shock effect, such as, "I'd ExtraLOVE anything from an ant to an elephant." That 'gem' didn't come from his life experience or from his personnae. It came from nowhere, like a high hard one he threw at his readers' heads to get their attention, to get them unnerved and backing away from the plate. In retrospect, Miller's writings can be safely passed over, especially with the plots and dialogues one encounters in today's films.

See, a hearty endorsement to read Miller.

[blaise]

M. said:

See, a hearty endorsement to read Miller.

So that passage appeals to you!

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Blaise said:

So that passage appeals to you!

I was referring to the whole post, particularly the last sentence. ;D

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Can anyone recommend some good books on the art, craft and business of writing?

[blaise]

When mentioned in the context of business, the art and craft of writing is irrelevant. For example, the Harry Potter and James Bonds novels are not paragons of style. Publishers (and agents) aren't looking for nice, cultured books. They're looking for something that will capture the imagination of readers. There are exceptions, of course, such as The Da Vinci Code, but a writer doesn't really have to write well. It also helps to have notoriety, good connections to the Beautiful People or the entertainment world, or expertise in a hobby. Unfounded polemics against liberals and secularists seem to sell well among the right wing fringe (viz. Ann Coulter). Or try writing about faith. Good art and presentation could help sell lavish coffee table books.

[HabbaDasher]

Come on, Blaise.
Mr B wants to work on his writing.
And so do I, actually.
Help us out.
Know any good books?

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Blaise said:

When mentioned in the context of business, the art and craft of writing is irrelevant. For example, the Harry Potter and James Bonds novels are not paragons of style. Publishers (and agents) aren't looking for nice, cultured books. They're looking for something that will capture the imagination of readers. There are exceptions, of course, such as The Da Vinci Code, but a writer doesn't really have to write well. It also helps to have notoriety, good connections to the Beautiful People or the entertainment world, or expertise in a hobby. Unfounded polemics against liberals and secularists seem to sell well among the right wing fringe (viz. Ann Coulter). Or try writing about faith. Good art and presentation could help sell lavish coffee table books.

Unhelpful.

Can anyone recommend some good books on the art, craft and business of writing?

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

HabbaDasher said:

Come on, Blaise.
Mr B wants to work on his writing.
And so do I, actually.

Quite right.

It looks as though I will soon have the opportunity to co-author a non-fiction title, plus I am mulling ideas for a series of short stories.

In the past people have suggested John Gardner's Art of Fiction.

[blaise]

M. said:

Unhelpful.

Can anyone recommend some good books on the art, craft and business of writing?

Let's get realistic. You don't learn these things from a book, just as you don't become a chess grandmaster by reading a book by (or about) Bobby Fischer or Gary Kasparov.

It would benefit an aspiring fiction writer to read the works of masters. Try Dubliners, the short stories of James Joyce. Or the novels of Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Henry James, Grahame Greene, Evelyn Waugh, or Gustave Flaubert. For novels on a grand scale with heavy intellectual content, try Thomas Mann (although his lighter novels, such as Felix Kroll, Confidence Man or his take on the Faust legend, Doctor Faustus, are more approachable than, say, his masterpiece The Magic Mountain. For nonfiction, try Jacques Barzun or Lewis Thomas (you would be fascinated by Thomas's The Lives of a Cell, one of the most lucid books on science for the intelligent layman I have ever come across).

As for the business of writing, there are numerous books on how to get yourself published. You hit upon a good idea, prepare an outline, table of contents, and a couple of sample chapters, and get yourself a good agent. To do that, ask around. Look at the various magazines devoted to that subject. You don't have to write the entire book before you shop it around. A good agent will tell you if you're wasting your time. Try calling a published author and ask if he or she can spare you some time and advice.

Many years ago my late wife and I published an article titled Editors Welcome Your Ideas. We stressed that you need not be a wordsmith to get published. What you have to say counts far more than how you say it. We advised that unless you have something that is hotter than a stove you should sit on your manuscript before submitting it because you want it to be as thoughtful as possible. Eliminate unnecessary passages (or chapters) to avoid wearing out an editor's (or editor's junior assistant's) patience. Once a book is accepted, it's necessary to work out a royalty contract. With an article or short style, it's a good idea to find out what the payment might be. It's also prudent to copyright your material. If you're submitting directly rather than through an agent, be sure you send the manuscript to a specific individual (the house editor who would be the logical one to read it) and not the publishing company. Proofread your manuscript thoroughly. As with an agent, do not send the complete manuscript. Send the editor a thorough letter that explains the intent of your book. If it is on a technical subject, you must present your credentials. Be sure to put your name and return address on everything you send. Along with the hard masuscript send a CD-R.

Good luck.

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Blaise said:

As for the business of writing, there are numerous books on how to get yourself published.

What are they? Which do you consider most useful?

You hit upon a good idea, prepare an outline, table of contents, and a couple of sample chapters, and get yourself a good agent. To do that, ask around. Look at the various magazines devoted to that subject. You don't have to write the entire book before you shop it around. A good agent will tell you if you're wasting your time. Try calling a published author and ask if he or she can spare you some time and advice.

Good general info for the uninitiated.

Many years ago my late wife and I published an article titled Editors Welcome Your Ideas. We stressed that you need not be a wordsmith to get published. What you have to say counts far more than how you say it. We advised that unless you have something that is hotter than a stove you should sit on your manuscript before submitting it because you want it to be as thoughtful as possible. Eliminate unnecessary passages (or chapters) to avoid wearing out an editor's (or editor's junior assistant's) patience. Once a book is accepted, it's necessary to work out a royalty contract. With an article or short style, it's a good idea to find out what the payment might be. It's also prudent to copyright your material. If you're submitting directly rather than through an agent, be sure you send the manuscript to a specific individual (the house editor who would be the logical one to read it) and not the publishing company. Proofread your manuscript thoroughly. As with an agent, do not send the complete manuscript. Send the editor a thorough letter that explains the intent of your book. If it is on a technical subject, you must present your credentials. Be sure to put your name and return address on everything you send. Along with the hard masuscript send a CD-R.

More good general info.

Good luck.

Thanks. You too.

[blaise]

M. said:

What are they? Which do you consider most useful?


Good general info for the uninitiated.


More good general info.


Thanks. You too.

I haven't looked at book publishing guides for many years. I would suggest you go to the largest bookstore in town and browse the books on display for as long as the proprietor will allow it, then select one that appeals to you. Later on, compile a list of literary agents from the telephone directory. Call a few and ask if they would spare you a few minutes of their time. Tell them you have some interesting book ideas and ask for suggestions. If you believe your idea is so unique and interesting that you fear having it stolen, be vague until you know you're dealing with an ethical person. Look on the internet for writers' groups. Try to attend some meetings. You might pick up a few useful tips.

[blaise]

Other marvelous books by Lewis Thomas (an oncologist who became president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and who retained a lifelong interest in biology) include The Medusa and the Snail and The Youngest Science. I have therse books (as well as The Lives of a Cell in my personal library and highly recommend them as a model for writing interestingly on nonfiction subjects for the intelligent general public. If only Darwin had been able to write as well as Thomas! By now at least some Creationists would have been at least tempted to tell their Sunday school teachers that what's written in the bible ain't necessarily so.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

A buddy of mine told me about The Pegan Christ.

From what I understand this book gives alternative explanations to the findings of the scriptures. I haven't read the book, but I'm looking at giving it a chance.

Has anyone read this book or heard anything else about it?

Cheers.

[franko]

Disgruntled70sHab said:

A buddy of mine told me about The Pegan Christ.

From what I understand this book gives alternative explanations to the findings of the scriptures. I haven't read the book, but I'm looking at giving it a chance.

Has anyone read this book or heard anything else about it?

Cheers.

Tom Harpur's theme is that there is no historical Jesus. Difficult to be a Christian and reject the "founder".

I again recommend Son of God to Superstar : Twentieth-Century Interpretation of Jesus by John H. Hayes -- an oldie but a goodie gives many answers to the "who is Jesus" question.

American Jesus is an interesting book. The review is pretty accurate.