What are you currently reading?

[mn dave]

In a real sense, they taught me how to get focused;  and they were an example to me in terms of the level of work I should want to achieve.

Very cool.

That's what I need: more focus.

[Kullervo]

What To Listen For in Music - Aaron Copland

I loaned this a couple months ago to my good friend who doesn't listen to classical music, with the intent of getting him to seek it out on his own. In the past he has seemed to show an interest whenever I play something for him, but it never leads to anything else. 

[mn dave]

To tell the truth, I need to get off the internet at night. 

[karlhenning]

You see The Light, mon vieux!

[mn dave]

You see The Light, mon vieux!

Yes, and hopefully it's not the one shining from my monitor. 

[mn dave]

This book, by the way, has been excellent.

[karlhenning]

This book, by the way, has been excellent.

Yes, the historical information in there is excellent!

Where he wants to take it all, his interpretation (all the whingeing and hand-wringing), I take issue with.  But the history component makes the book a must-read.

[karlhenning]

Although it necessarily takes a while, given the weekly schedule, I am much enjoying this re-read of White Noise

In the morning I sped out to Glassboro to take the further tests my doctor had advised, at Autumn Harvest Farms.  The seriousness of such an occasion is directly proportionate to the number of bodily emissions you are asked to cull for analysis.  I carried with me several specimen bottles, each containing some melancholy waste or secretion.  Alone in the glove compartment rode an ominous plastic locket, which I'd reverently enclosed in three interlocking Baggies, successively twist-tied.  Here was a daub of the most solemn waste of all, certain to be looked upon by the technicians with the mingled deference, awe and dread we have come to associate with exotic religions of the world.

[rubio]

What did you think?

It's the first book by Thomas Mann that I read and I'm only a bit more than halfway through. I thoroughly enjoy it and I think Mann has a quite poetic style here. He uses more than a few references to Greek mythology. As I'm not not so familiar with it I have to do check-ups on a few names. It inspires me to learn more about it. He uses some eloquent words and has a way with sentences. There are several more books by Thomas Mann which are on my to-read list (like Dr Faustus and Magic Mountain). Which books do you like the most?

[Daverz]

Very good so far.

[Kullervo]

It's the first book by Thomas Mann that I read and I'm only a bit more than halfway through. I thoroughly enjoy it and I think Mann has a quite poetic style here. He uses more than a few references to Greek mythology. As I'm not not so familiar with it I have to do check-ups on a few names. It inspires me to learn more about it. He uses some eloquent words and has a way with sentences. There are several more books by Thomas Mann which are on my to-read list (like Dr Faustus and Magic Mountain). Which books do you like the most?

The Magic Mountain is my favorite Mann, and, consequently, my all-time favorite novel. Even so, I recommend you start with his first, Buddenbrooks before you read anything else.

[M forever]

The second book I read for background info on the Texas Child Welfare proceedings of the 400 hundred children taken from their homes on FLDS church was His Favorite wife, Trapped in Polygamy by Susan Ray Schmidt.  This also was a true story.  In this case the wives were left alone while Verlan Lebaron (their husband) was away working or doing church work.  He would be gone for months.  This family was poverty stricken.  Verlan married 9 times.  Susan was his 6th wife.  The wives were on their own to feed their children.

By accident as I was reading this book, I happened to write down the names of the wives in the order that they married Verlan.  Susan (and her children) finally escaped with the help of her brother.

The second woman to become Verlan's wife was named Irene.  Last night as I was looking for another book to read, I discovered that Irene had escaped also and had written a book Shattered Dreams, My Life As a Polygamist's Wife  by Irene Spencer.  The cover of the book says that she stayed married to Verlan Lebaron for twenty-four years.  Verlan died in 1981.  Irene married again for 18 years to her present husband (non polygamist).  It is going to be interesting to see the family from first Susan's viewpoint and then Irene's.  Both books are very well written.


All 3 books show what it is like to a polygamist wife.

Well, it's a religious thing, and we are supposed to respect other people's religious lifestyle, aren't we?

[M forever]

The Tale of Genji (11th century)
Murasaki Shikibu
trans. Royall Taylor

I read small parts of that and always wanted to read the whole (really long) book. I was in the temple where she wrote that, they have a lifesize model of her sitting (or rather, kneeling) at her desk and writing in a little pavillion.

[M forever]

Pretty gay outfit, if you ask me. BTW, there is a Mongolian movie out now which is about GK. The English release title is, highly original "Mongol". I saw a few minutes of that in a theater I worked at earlier and it looked interesting, so maybe I will go and watch that.

[M forever]

The Magic Mountain is my favorite Mann, and, consequently, my all-time favorite novel.

Magic Mountain somehow sounds completely wrong as translation for "Zauberberg" even though technically it is correct, I guess. But it still sounds strange.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

"Mountain of Enchantments" would perhaps be nearer the mark.

[orbital]

The Magic Mountain is my favorite Mann, and, consequently, my all-time favorite novel.

Well, that's because you still have not read The Man Without Qualities 

[greg]

Pretty gay outfit, if you ask me.

ooooohhhhhhh you insulted all the homosexuals, now you're going to court and will be banned from the forum, then thrown in jail and raped and then killed. You have to be careful, that's why i try to not to use the word "gay" too much on a public forum like this. 

Now:
Alex Ross' The Rest is Noise

Got through most of the book, skipped a couple of chapters i didn't think would be that exciting, since they're about composers i don't care for much, or haven't listened to much. Right now, I'm going back to the Sibelius chapter.
There's too much good stuff in this book to share (as it is with many of the music books i read)....



Yesterday:


I spent my time at the mall reading this (in the bookstore). Just sat down in one of the couches and read it quite slowly, and ahhhhhhhhhh it was just heaven  0:)

I love this series, although it can get very very banal, like many manga/anime. But the world is so exciting, i wish i could go there (in fact, my op.9 is called "Punk Street", which is named after a place in that world).

It's somewhat of a typical "solo hero" (teenage boy) going out and exploring the world and saving it. Basically, my own fantasy. It's pretty quirky, too- almost made me laugh out loud with the pictures of crowds, some of them with a knife in their head and a guy carrying a toaster, or with the stupid wannabe characters, the 'Jiggle Butt' gang.

I started reading the series in Spanish- the first four volumes, and it's called "Rave"..... thanks to my old library. I'll have to keep checking back at the mall, they have 28 volumes out now so I have a ways to go..... 

[Anne]

Well, it's a religious thing, and we are supposed to respect other people's religious lifestyle, aren't we?

Yes, of course.  At the turn of the century (1890 and 1905) the government got after the Mormans and the Mormans agreed to no longer have polygamy as part of its practice of faith.  That is still true today.  The LDS were Mormon Fundalmentalists who did not relinquish polygamy.  Today Mormons do not allow the FDS into their churches.

Reading these books has shown that men are happy in polygamy as are the children.  It is the wives who do not have enough of their husband's time.

[greg]

"Is your mommy going to pick you up from school today?"
"Which one?"