Monday, February 28, 2011
LCD Soundsystem & The Muppets
My favorite record of 2010 was from LCD Soundsystem. Didn't listen to a lot of new music in the past year but was glad I found this album. (I heard James Murphy interviewed on Fresh Air and read about him in the New Yorker - not the coolest way to discover new music - but what can I do?)
This isn't the best song on the album - but the video features the Muppets doing some of their best work since Bohemian Rhapsody.
I know it is supposed to be all about books here but I really love LCD Soundsystem.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
The Water Rat of Wanchai
As much as I enjoying reading, I think I may enjoy reading about reading or reading to find new books to read, just as much. I was reading the arts section of Canada's National Post newspaper last weekend and saw a story about Ian Hamilton and his new novel The Water Rat of Wanchai. Then I did a Google search on him and the book and was soon convinced that I had just discovered the next Stieg Larsson. Its possible that I am just responding to some good PR by the publisher and the buzz from a few bloggers but it has been fun telling people (several at work, the barista at Starbucks) that I had just discovered the next big thing in publishing and that in a year, everyone would be talking about Ava Lee (Hamilton's Lisbeth Salander).
My copy of the book just arrived from Amazon Canada and it looks like some of my reckless enthusiasm is warranted: "When the phone rang, Ava woke with a start." Not quite as good as "When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man." (Firebreak, Richard Stark, 2001) But still, a good start. I hope I actually read this book fairly soon. I don't want it to be like the current book I am reading, The Likeness by Tana French.
I heard about her debut novel, In the Woods, fairly early on - certainly before it became a big hit. So I started it but couldn't get past the prologue. Really hated that part. Seemed to drag on forever. (Longest two pages of my life.) So I put it aside and then all of a sudden Tana French had published two more critically acclaimed, prize-winning novels. My wife has read all three multiple times and I had only managed two pages. So after three or four years, I finally read In the Woods this past month. On a Kindle.
I find it hard to believe that In the Woods is her first novel. French is really, really good. Set in and around Dublin, French tells the story of two detectives from the Dublin Murder Squad (which does not exist - but wouldn't tee shirts with that name on it be really cool?) working a new child murder case on the site of an archeological dig where two children had vanished twenty years earlier. Oh, and one of the detectives was with the two vanished kids that day 20 years ago and was the only survivor of whatever happened that day (of which he has no memory). A long a brooding book - without a lot of action in it - but still quite wonderful. In a way, it is the Irish equivalent to Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo's Swedish police procedurals (the Martin Beck series). And so far, though I have only read a few chapters of it, The Likeness, her second book, seems to be even better than her debut.
My copy of the book just arrived from Amazon Canada and it looks like some of my reckless enthusiasm is warranted: "When the phone rang, Ava woke with a start." Not quite as good as "When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man." (Firebreak, Richard Stark, 2001) But still, a good start. I hope I actually read this book fairly soon. I don't want it to be like the current book I am reading, The Likeness by Tana French.
I heard about her debut novel, In the Woods, fairly early on - certainly before it became a big hit. So I started it but couldn't get past the prologue. Really hated that part. Seemed to drag on forever. (Longest two pages of my life.) So I put it aside and then all of a sudden Tana French had published two more critically acclaimed, prize-winning novels. My wife has read all three multiple times and I had only managed two pages. So after three or four years, I finally read In the Woods this past month. On a Kindle.
I find it hard to believe that In the Woods is her first novel. French is really, really good. Set in and around Dublin, French tells the story of two detectives from the Dublin Murder Squad (which does not exist - but wouldn't tee shirts with that name on it be really cool?) working a new child murder case on the site of an archeological dig where two children had vanished twenty years earlier. Oh, and one of the detectives was with the two vanished kids that day 20 years ago and was the only survivor of whatever happened that day (of which he has no memory). A long a brooding book - without a lot of action in it - but still quite wonderful. In a way, it is the Irish equivalent to Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo's Swedish police procedurals (the Martin Beck series). And so far, though I have only read a few chapters of it, The Likeness, her second book, seems to be even better than her debut.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
The Rise and Fall of Bowdlerization and Mutilation
January 2011 has been a bad month. First, some loser published a new edition of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The major contribution of this new edition - the elimination of the N-word from the text. I've been fairly happy that there has been a proper amount of outrage over this and most seem to understand why this is a bad/stupid thing to do.
About the same time as the SafeTwain was published, PBS began airing the recent UK TV phenom Downtown Abbey. But because certain PBS executives think Americans are stupid, certain parts of the series have been cut to eliminate material they fear we will not understand and to speed up the action because we cannot stay focused without jumping right in to the story. Who do they think is watching a costume drama about servants and the English aristocracy anyway? I started watching the original but haven't got very far yet. This might not be for me.
I read a lot of English fiction and watch a lot of English TV and I constantly encounter material I do not understand. This is why Google was invented. For instance, I am currently reading Kate Atkinson's Started Early, Took My Dog. Lots of bad things happened in Leeds/Yorkshire in the 1970s and Atkinson makes reference to the Gene Hunt and Jack Regan school of policing. I got the Gene Hunt reference (I watched the original UK version of Life on Mars - not the bowdlerized version they showed here or the insipid American remake) but had to Google Jack Regan. Turns out, he's from The Sweeney - which I sort of know about but have never seen. (Hard to imagine that nice old Inspector Morse was a bad ass before he became Inspector Morse.) I am reading the UK edition of the book and wonder if this bit will make the American edition when it is published in March. (And why the delay?)
Earlier this month I read The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin by David Nobbs. I heard Jonathan Coe talk about this book on the radio and that made me really want to read it - because Coe may be my favorite writer. I guess the TV series of the same name was a big hit (in the US, too, I've heard, mainly because of endless PBS reruns but I never knew about it). I thought the book was wonderful. I tried the TV series but it was too painful to watch. Book seems far superior and maybe the show was funnier in 1975. While researching the TV series, I found that the new DVD set available in the US has been bowdlerized - they took out something making fun of minorities (or making fun of people who are scared of minorities). We can put these DVDs on the shelf next to the new Mark Twain.
One thing I was surprised to see and hear was the use of the N-word in Fawlty Towers. I've been watching that via Netflix and just saw the episode called The Germans. I'd seen parts of this before but not the whole thing. In the first half of the episode, before we get to the Don't Mention the War stuff, the Major tells Fawlty a story about a cricket match and refers to the N*s. As the Major is a washed up, drunken fossil, I take the N-word from his mouth to be more about him than those to whom he refers. Wonder if it was the same in 1975?
I also read the English and American versions (don't ask) of Lee Child's latest, Worth Dying For. The only differences I noticed? Tyres and tires. This I can live with.
About the same time as the SafeTwain was published, PBS began airing the recent UK TV phenom Downtown Abbey. But because certain PBS executives think Americans are stupid, certain parts of the series have been cut to eliminate material they fear we will not understand and to speed up the action because we cannot stay focused without jumping right in to the story. Who do they think is watching a costume drama about servants and the English aristocracy anyway? I started watching the original but haven't got very far yet. This might not be for me.
I read a lot of English fiction and watch a lot of English TV and I constantly encounter material I do not understand. This is why Google was invented. For instance, I am currently reading Kate Atkinson's Started Early, Took My Dog. Lots of bad things happened in Leeds/Yorkshire in the 1970s and Atkinson makes reference to the Gene Hunt and Jack Regan school of policing. I got the Gene Hunt reference (I watched the original UK version of Life on Mars - not the bowdlerized version they showed here or the insipid American remake) but had to Google Jack Regan. Turns out, he's from The Sweeney - which I sort of know about but have never seen. (Hard to imagine that nice old Inspector Morse was a bad ass before he became Inspector Morse.) I am reading the UK edition of the book and wonder if this bit will make the American edition when it is published in March. (And why the delay?)
Earlier this month I read The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin by David Nobbs. I heard Jonathan Coe talk about this book on the radio and that made me really want to read it - because Coe may be my favorite writer. I guess the TV series of the same name was a big hit (in the US, too, I've heard, mainly because of endless PBS reruns but I never knew about it). I thought the book was wonderful. I tried the TV series but it was too painful to watch. Book seems far superior and maybe the show was funnier in 1975. While researching the TV series, I found that the new DVD set available in the US has been bowdlerized - they took out something making fun of minorities (or making fun of people who are scared of minorities). We can put these DVDs on the shelf next to the new Mark Twain.
One thing I was surprised to see and hear was the use of the N-word in Fawlty Towers. I've been watching that via Netflix and just saw the episode called The Germans. I'd seen parts of this before but not the whole thing. In the first half of the episode, before we get to the Don't Mention the War stuff, the Major tells Fawlty a story about a cricket match and refers to the N*s. As the Major is a washed up, drunken fossil, I take the N-word from his mouth to be more about him than those to whom he refers. Wonder if it was the same in 1975?
I also read the English and American versions (don't ask) of Lee Child's latest, Worth Dying For. The only differences I noticed? Tyres and tires. This I can live with.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Boxing Day
I have been experiencing box envy lately. Now that Christmas has come and gone, my condition has eased considerably as I now have some box sets of my own.
The first is both simple and something very special:
I have never properly read any Sherlock Holmes. I've read about him and sorted of skimmed him but have never owned any of Arthur Conan Doyle's books. Its hard to be knowledgeable about crime fiction without ever having read these books. So this is a special treat for me. Two nice, thick paperbacks and one nice card board box for them to live in.
My second box set is a three volume edition of the late Chilean writer Roberto Bolano's book 2666.
Just as a dead Swede has been the sensation of the crime fiction world the past few years, this dead Chilean is the star of the world of literary fiction now that all of his books have finally appeared in English. I've read a lot about him but this will be my first stab at reading one of his books (though he has had some stories published in New Yorker magazine the past few years).
Our friend Docx made a lame attempt to get us to stop reading crap and start reading serious literary fiction several weeks ago. His approach was all wrong. One of my favorite critics, John Powers, gave an impassioned plea for why we should read great books like 2666 - for what they can offer - a few years ago that was much more powerful and effective than Docx's attempt to tell us that what we are reading is inherently flawed. (Instead of reading the Powers piece, click on the link to listen to it - it was written for radio.) I've been thinking about Powers' review of 2666 since I heard it and now I can finally see for myself if he's right.
Other good Bolano links: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2007/03/26/070326crat_atlarge_zalewski and http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article5464942.ece
My third box of the season is certainly the strangest, and, I hope, the most valuable. A long time ago I became a lifetime subscriber to McSweeney's. Issue number 36 just came in the mail - in the form of a head shaped like a box.
(Note: Not my photo - actually, none of these are.)
My last and greatest box is this:
A collection of 100 famous Penguin covers as post cards. In a box. I also got Phil Baines's Penguin By Design, too.
The first is both simple and something very special:
My second box set is a three volume edition of the late Chilean writer Roberto Bolano's book 2666.
Our friend Docx made a lame attempt to get us to stop reading crap and start reading serious literary fiction several weeks ago. His approach was all wrong. One of my favorite critics, John Powers, gave an impassioned plea for why we should read great books like 2666 - for what they can offer - a few years ago that was much more powerful and effective than Docx's attempt to tell us that what we are reading is inherently flawed. (Instead of reading the Powers piece, click on the link to listen to it - it was written for radio.) I've been thinking about Powers' review of 2666 since I heard it and now I can finally see for myself if he's right.
Other good Bolano links: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2007/03/26/070326crat_atlarge_zalewski and http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article5464942.ece
My third box of the season is certainly the strangest, and, I hope, the most valuable. A long time ago I became a lifetime subscriber to McSweeney's. Issue number 36 just came in the mail - in the form of a head shaped like a box.
My last and greatest box is this:
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Great Westlake Essay
Jettisoning the Literary Straitjacket
A great essay on Donald Westlake and his recently published lost novel Memory. Saw this on Sarah Weinman's Tumblr feed and not on her blog. Must watch Tumblr and Twitter more closely in 2011.
A great essay on Donald Westlake and his recently published lost novel Memory. Saw this on Sarah Weinman's Tumblr feed and not on her blog. Must watch Tumblr and Twitter more closely in 2011.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Bruegel and Stark and Frayn and Westlake
The name of the island is Cockaigne. Karns, the head of the Outfit and the man commissioning the job, gives us the background on the name:
‘One of my lawyers told me what it is,’ Karns said. ‘There was an old legend in the old days in England about a country called Cockaigne where everything was great. Streets made of sugar, doughnuts growing on the trees and like that. Like the song about the big rock candy mountain. Idleness and luxury, that was Cockaigne, and that was what this bird Baron called his gambling island.’
And this rang a bell with me. Just as Stark used the story of the Missing Mourners of Dijon in The Mourner, I wondered if he got the idea for The Handle from the world of fine arts - because there's a painting of it by one of my favorite artists, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, called "The Land of Cockaigne."
In Tuesday's New York Times, I read about the discovery of a new painting by Bruegel and this reminded me that I never finished this post. An old painting has been found to be from the master himself and not one of his sons. Michael Kimmelmen has a nice write up about it called When Overlooked Art Turns Celebrity.
Here's the painting:
Bruegel the Elder is one of my favorite artists and my interested in him originated in reading Michael Frayn's great comic novel Headlong, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1999. In it a man notices a painting hanging in a decaying country house that he suspects is a lost painting by Bruegel. He schemes to get it and things end badly. Imagine one of Westlake's Dortmunder novels written in a way Docx would approve and you have Headlong. This book is a real work of art and one of my favorite novels ever.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Charity Cases
Day 1
A charity book sale just opened near work. Its a temporary thing, set up in a small, abandoned space and it doesn't seem to have much good stuff - Docx's nightmare is what it is.
I collect books connected to the New Yorker magazine. Have a big bookcase full of them. Hidden in a box under a table of books on current affairs at this book sale, I found a copy of The World of John McNulty by John McNulty with an introduction by James Thurber. McNulty wrote for the magazine from 1937 until his death in 1956. This is a collection of most of his pieces for the magazine. I had never heard of him before and this first edition hardcover from 1957 with its dust jacket in perfect shape (I don't think anyone read it back in '57) was only four bucks so I grabbed it. (I can't find any photos of the book online. Also, I can't find the cable to connect the camera to the computer.)
I want to do some research on McNulty but it will have to wait until after the holidays. Our x-mas tree blocks access to the bookcase with all of my New Yorker books. McNulty seems to have written pieces about life in New York city - stories about cab drivers, bar tenders, gamblers - colorful characters, mainly. From skimming the book, it seems to me that the reason no one remembers much about him is that Joseph Mitchell covered much of the same territory and did so with much greater skill. To be fair, Mitchell used the English language better than most who have ever picked up a pen and it must have been unlucky to be on the same beat at the same time as him.
Day 2
I picked up a copy of The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher. Apparently most of what I have been reading this year is crap genre fiction (see Mr. Docx in the Observer) so I thought I should read some nice literary fiction. TNC definitely passes the Docx test and I think it will be quite good. I had this book from the library when it came out but never got to it before the library insisted that I bring it back.
Day 3
I found a brand new copy of Paul Auster's latest novel, Sunset Park. It was only published in November and its astonishing that it could end up in a bin in charity sale so quickly. I probably would've purchased this book new so finding it for four bucks is a bargain.
I overpaid for a copy of Fear of Drowning by Peter Turnbull. I've had my eye on Turnball for ages - probably back from when my Ian Rankin-mania started in the mid to late 90s. Rankin's Insepector Rebus series is one of my all-time favorites. Around then I started noticing short paperbacks by this Turnbull fellow but I couldn't find out much about him. He seems to have written a series of police procedurals set in Glasgow and now maybe is writing other stuff. My book dowsing sense was telling me to start getting his books but I never did. I've been passing on them for years now. When I saw an ex-library copy Fear of Drowning I decided this would be the book I would read to determine whether or not to hunt down the rest of Turnbull's books. Unfortunately, Turnball seems to have dropped Glasgow for North Yorkshire. Nothing against North Yorkshire (never having been there) but Scotland (never been there either - but I feel like I have) is such a great place for crime novels. On the other hand, I do have a box of Yorkshire Gold tea in the kitchen. Had it for breakfast. (Had a cup of Scottish Breakfast tea earlier this evening.) So I guess I'm ready for Mr. Turnbull.
A charity book sale just opened near work. Its a temporary thing, set up in a small, abandoned space and it doesn't seem to have much good stuff - Docx's nightmare is what it is.
I collect books connected to the New Yorker magazine. Have a big bookcase full of them. Hidden in a box under a table of books on current affairs at this book sale, I found a copy of The World of John McNulty by John McNulty with an introduction by James Thurber. McNulty wrote for the magazine from 1937 until his death in 1956. This is a collection of most of his pieces for the magazine. I had never heard of him before and this first edition hardcover from 1957 with its dust jacket in perfect shape (I don't think anyone read it back in '57) was only four bucks so I grabbed it. (I can't find any photos of the book online. Also, I can't find the cable to connect the camera to the computer.)
I want to do some research on McNulty but it will have to wait until after the holidays. Our x-mas tree blocks access to the bookcase with all of my New Yorker books. McNulty seems to have written pieces about life in New York city - stories about cab drivers, bar tenders, gamblers - colorful characters, mainly. From skimming the book, it seems to me that the reason no one remembers much about him is that Joseph Mitchell covered much of the same territory and did so with much greater skill. To be fair, Mitchell used the English language better than most who have ever picked up a pen and it must have been unlucky to be on the same beat at the same time as him.
Day 2
I picked up a copy of The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher. Apparently most of what I have been reading this year is crap genre fiction (see Mr. Docx in the Observer) so I thought I should read some nice literary fiction. TNC definitely passes the Docx test and I think it will be quite good. I had this book from the library when it came out but never got to it before the library insisted that I bring it back.
Day 3
I found a brand new copy of Paul Auster's latest novel, Sunset Park. It was only published in November and its astonishing that it could end up in a bin in charity sale so quickly. I probably would've purchased this book new so finding it for four bucks is a bargain.
I overpaid for a copy of Fear of Drowning by Peter Turnbull. I've had my eye on Turnball for ages - probably back from when my Ian Rankin-mania started in the mid to late 90s. Rankin's Insepector Rebus series is one of my all-time favorites. Around then I started noticing short paperbacks by this Turnbull fellow but I couldn't find out much about him. He seems to have written a series of police procedurals set in Glasgow and now maybe is writing other stuff. My book dowsing sense was telling me to start getting his books but I never did. I've been passing on them for years now. When I saw an ex-library copy Fear of Drowning I decided this would be the book I would read to determine whether or not to hunt down the rest of Turnbull's books. Unfortunately, Turnball seems to have dropped Glasgow for North Yorkshire. Nothing against North Yorkshire (never having been there) but Scotland (never been there either - but I feel like I have) is such a great place for crime novels. On the other hand, I do have a box of Yorkshire Gold tea in the kitchen. Had it for breakfast. (Had a cup of Scottish Breakfast tea earlier this evening.) So I guess I'm ready for Mr. Turnbull.
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