What are you currently reading?

[Karl Henning]

Finished re-reading The Silmarillion to-day.  The Quenta Silmarillion proper, in particular, I find cumulatively powerful, every time I read it.

[Geo Dude]

I started on Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons and his Cosmic American Music a few days ago.  Excellent stuff, thus far.

[Gold Knight]

Tim Flannery--The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth

[ibanezmonster]

Very good, but eventually I'll have to look for a book which doesn't use the GLUT extensions (this will be when I'm ready to take off the training wheels).
Currently on the Pixel Mapping section... I kinda like the way OpenGL is used. The commands are pretty straightforward- it's just a matter of learning the formulas, algorithms, and theory to get it to do what you want it to do. It's nothing quirky and insane like Windows programming with C.

[Lisz]

Is anybody familiar with this book or author? I came across it quite by accident at a street vendor's. Seemed to call out to me, lol! 1987 printing first Copyright in 1932 by Scribner's. It's in such excellent condition! (no, I'm not selling! 

Knew nothing about her, but have come to find out that Marcia Davenport was a writer for The New Yorker among other things and very involved in the classical music scene. She's an excellent writer, and now I'm surprised to see paperbacks of this are selling on Amazon for $75.

Just started reading, but I'm already fascinated by her style and approach to my favorite composer.

[SonicMan46]

Is anybody familiar with this book or author? I came across it quite by accident at a street vendor's. Seemed to call out to me, lol! 1987 printing first Copyright in 1932 by Scribner's. It's in such excellent condition! (no, I'm not selling! 

Hello Hildegard - I've had so many Mozart books over the years, including the one by Davenport - looking on Amazon (and the best that I can recall) I would have to agree w/ the 3* reviewer, i.e. the book is well written and easy to read, emotionally involves one w/ Wolfie, but when written the facts were not all there, so as long as that is kept in mind, a worthwhile read.

Now my wife & I buy so many books that we donate many to a local charity; at the moment, I have the first 2 books below on Mozart (and the Sadie New Grove mainly for a listing of his works) - more up to date but 'drier' reads perhaps? 

Now, I've also been contemplating the book below by Wates; 2010 publication date and good reviews - curious if others know this new one?

Finally, I just purchased the DVD 'In Search of Mozart' - great comments but yet to watch completely - will report back!  Dave

 

 

[Lisz]

Hello Hildegard - I've had so many Mozart books over the years, including the one by Davenport - looking on Amazon (and the best that I can recall) I would have to agree w/ the 3* reviewer, i.e. the book is well written and easy to read, emotionally involves one w/ Wolfie, but when written the facts were not all there, so as long as that is kept in mind, a worthwhile read.

Thanks SonicMan for your perspective on the Davenport as well as the other Mozart books in your collection.

I am enjoying the Davenport very much, despite any factual faults it may have. It's been called a labor of love for Davenport and that personal feeling is very palpable. It's a very different approach from  most other biographies.

[SonicMan46]

..........I am enjoying the Davenport very much, despite any factual faults it may have. It's been called a labor of love for Davenport and that personal feeling is very palpable. It's a very different approach from  most other biographies.

Glad that you're liking the Davenport book - as already stated, worth a read IMHO!

BTW - I went ahead and ordered the Wates book - should arrive early in the week!  Dave 

[The new erato]

Thanks SonicMan for your perspective on the Davenport as well as the other Mozart books in your collection.

I am enjoying the Davenport very much, despite any factual faults it may have. It's been called a labor of love for Davenport and that personal feeling is very palpable. It's a very different approach from  most other biographies.

A labor of love with factual faults? Sure this isn't Rob Newman writing under pseudonym?

[Lisz]

A labor of love with factual faults? Sure this isn't Rob Newman writing under pseudonym?

Not factual faults as much as the fact that Mozart scholarship is always evolving and has so since this book was written in the 1930s.

For anyone interested, the Mozart Society is hosting the Mozart Early Biographies projects, collecting Mozart biographies that go back as early as 1793.  The Society Newsletters are also always a good read when one is more in scholarship mode.

http://www.mozartsocietyofamerica.org/

[Karl Henning]

Re-reading (on my Nook Simple Touch) The Lord of the Rings.  This has to be something like the 15^th time I'm reading it . . . but this may be the very first time I actually read Bilbo's poem about Eärendil (a translation from the Elvish, really, and the one in which he needed to consult "the Dúnadan" on a couple of matters) in its entirety.

[DavidW]

Karl I never knew that you were such a hardcore LOTR fan!

[Karl Henning]

Karl I never knew that you were such a hardcore LOTR fan!

Well, I devoured the book first, one summer when I was in my teens.  For some while after that, I read it at least once every summer.  It holds up staggeringly well.

My mom-in-law and I watched the first disc of the extended version of the first Jackson movie yesterday, Davey.  I don't think Mom has read the book, so she was simply impressed (and perfectly fairly) with the look, the cinematography, the locations, the sets.

Now that I know to expect the unforgiveable deviations from the source, I can just enjoy the movies for what they are.

[Leon]

Well, I devoured the book first, one summer when I was in my teens.  For some while after that, I read it at least once every summer.  It holds up staggeringly well.

My mom-in-law and I watched the first disc of the extended version of the first Jackson movie yesterday, Davey.  I don't think Mom has read the book, so she was simply impressed (and perfectly fairly) with the look, the cinematography, the locations, the sets.

Now that I know to expect the unforgiveable deviations from the source, I can just enjoy the movies for what they are.

Do you have the same opinion of Howard Shore's music as you do for John Williams'?

[chasmaniac]

Re-reading (on my Nook Simple Touch) The Lord of the Rings.  This has to be something like the 15^th time I'm reading it . . . but this may be the very first time I actually read Bilbo's poem about Eärendil (a translation from the Elvish, really, and the one in which he needed to consult "the Dúnadan" on a couple of matters) in its entirety.

The Flammifer of Westernesse! (Only bit I remember off the top of my head.)

Re. the Quenta Silmarillion: whatever the author's intentions, I've always read this as the bible as it should have been written, a consecutive and consistent (and dowenright believable!) account of exile from idyllic origins. Extraordinarily powerful, I find it.

[jlaurson]

I enjoyed Casino Royal as well.

The sequel was really hurt by the Hollywood writers' strike from a few years back.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/daniel-craig-says-writers-strike-fucked-quantum-of-solace-he-rewrote-scenes-with-marc-forster#

Actor Daniel Craig and the director desperately tried to save by themselves a barebones script that was turned in hours before the writers' strike. Obviously they didn't succeed. 

They sure as hell didn't. What a train-wreck. Brought his average nearly down to Brosnan's Bond. With some distance, and with my man-crush on Brosnan (that is: wanting to be Brosnan) overcome, I can now see just how much Bond suffered in the four films he was at the helm, three of which are just various kinds of awful. Cumulating in "The World is Not Enough", of course, which is rivals "Quantum of Solace" for 'horribility'. I hope there are people who feel ashamed, every day, for having had a hand in either of those train wrecks. They only serve the purpose to make "Moonraker" look like a classy, plausible masterpiece, I suppose.

Interesting link.

Now reading:



Ian Fleming
Diamonds are Forever
Penguin (Ed. 2008)

[North Star]

Re-reading (on my Nook Simple Touch) The Lord of the Rings.  This has to be something like the 15^th time I'm reading it . . . but this may be the very first time I actually read Bilbo's poem about Eärendil (a translation from the Elvish, really, and the one in which he needed to consult "the Dúnadan" on a couple of matters) in its entirety.

I've read it only twice, and to my everlasting (well, at least until I have enough time to make amends), I have only read it translated into Finnish. The translation is excellently done, though, but it's still far from reading the original, of course.
Next challenge for you, Karl - read it in Dutch, Finnish, French and German, as a friend of mine has done (in addition to the original, of course) 

[Karl Henning]

In re-reading "The Council of Elrond," I am aghast all over again at what Jackson makes of the scene . . . more a barroom brawl, so that Elrond hardly seems Master even in's own house.

[North Star]

Jackson did take a lot of awful liberties, and for no reason.

[DavidW]

Well in that scene Jackson was trying to create dramatic tension and demonstrate the corrupting power of the ring.  Also when Frodo takes the ring, the moment has been made more significant due to the fact that it is eliminating the introduced conflict.  These are exactly the kind of departures you have to make for a movie.  Jackson did right.  Movies are not meant to be literal interpretations of novels.

This is just a case where the movie needs to sensationalize a scene that reads fine, but would be flat and dull on screen.  I don't agree with some of the changes that Jackson made, but I would not say that they were for no reason.