Stissing Lane

Quote of the Day

2012-01-26T21:05:00.000-05:00

"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman."

Literary Pick (***)

2012-01-21T18:12:00.006-05:00

Candide

-Voltaire

Poor Candide! poor dumb, benevolent Candide!
I was quite shocked to read some of the outrageous things that took place in this little satirical novel, especially a work that was written c1759. Women being raped, sodomized, their butt cheeks cut off to feed starving Russians, slavery, male castration, women having sex with monkeys.. Voltaire really knew how to take wtf to psycho-like levels. I can see why it created such scandal back in it's day, but it doesn't read strained or contrived, it's all presented in a matter-of-fact style which is what made it so disturbing. Makes you wonder what kind of world Voltaire lived in, and what kind of things he experienced..or maybe he was just equipped with a sensational imagination. Comical and sometimes pathetic, I enjoyed this little novella. It was my first experience with Voltaire so I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of his works and philosophy. I also found out he was a deist. A doctrine I have believed in for quite some time but was too fearful to openly admit, until recently.

Literary Pick (*)

2012-01-16T16:26:00.006-05:00

The Aeneid

-Virgil

I'm so glad to finally be over with this book. It seems that any book I look passionately forward to reading turns out to be a dud. I was really looking to recapture the emotions I felt reading Homer's The Odyssey, but instead I was left feeling the opposite..very much the way I felt reading Homer's The Iliad, which was absolutely torturous for me.

It started off interesting enough.. Aeneas wakes up to see his city being ravaged by the Greeks. Aeneas tries to flee with his family, but realizes his wife, Creusa, is not with him, so he returns for her and instead encounters her ghost..she's been killed. I thought that was wonderful start to the story, however, after he left Troy, it goes downhill from there. Aside from the part where he takes up with Dido, It felt like I was reading the Iliad all over again. With it's never-ending war theme. Almost the entire rest of the story was about his battle with Turnus. Every single page was pure labor. I hate when I don't enjoy a beautiful classic like this. It makes me feel inadequate.

Quote of the Day

2012-01-11T11:29:00.000-05:00

“May God have mercy for my enemies because I won't.”

-George S. Patton Jr.

RIP

2011-12-28T10:46:00.008-05:00

Helen Frankenthaler

December 12th, 1928- December 26th 2011

Abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler dies at 83
Synopsis
Helen Frankenthaler is an American-born painter, printmaker, and sculptor who, along with fellow artists Kenneth Noland and Morris Louis, spearheaded the practice of Color Field painting, a component of Abstract Expressionism. Her innovative technique, along with her use of landscape to inform her abstract work, changed the way artists conceived of and used color in their own work and made her the most prominent female member of the Abstract Expressionist and Color Field Painting movements.

Key Ideas / Information

•Frankenthaler echoed Jackson Pollock in both the large scale of her canvases and her decision to paint on the floor rather than on an easel. Unlike Pollock, however, her paintings conveyed a tranquil experience of the natural world rather than an intermittently ominous sense of the sublime.

•Frankenthaler emphasized the role of her "wrist" as her own personal artistic signature and in this way aligned herself with the Abstract Expressionists and the importance they placed on the visibility of "the artist's hand" in a painting.

•Frankenthaler's use of light hearkens back to landscape painters of earlier centuries who used light from the natural world to define focal points and illuminate their works, but absent in her work is the religious sentiment they sought to inspire.

TheArtstory.org

Literary Pick (**)

2011-12-20T15:21:00.000-05:00

She's Come Undone
-Wally Lamb

Quote of the Day

2011-12-16T13:22:00.000-05:00

Only when the last tree has died
and the last river been poisoned
and the last fish been caught
will we realise we cannot eat money

-Cree Indian Proverb

Literary Pick (*)

2011-11-23T15:35:00.000-05:00

Por Estas Calles Bravas
-Piri Tomas

Quote of the Day

2011-11-15T20:19:00.000-05:00

“To hell with reality! I want to die in music, not in reason or in prose. People don't deserve the restraint we show by not going into delirium in front of them. To hell with them!”
― Louis-Ferdinand Céline

Photograph of the Moment

2011-11-15T20:18:00.001-05:00

Ernest Hemingway

Literary Pick (****)

2011-11-15T18:06:00.003-05:00

E-Z French -Barrons

I finally finished my French workbook after 9 months of studying. When I began studying French I didn't even know what the word "Je" meant. Now I have about a 40-50 % level of comprehension. Although I still struggle with the spoken language, I highly recommend this textbook if you're interested in either honing your French language skills, or if like me, you want to learn the language from scratch. This was a great textbook for learning French. I'm amazed.

Quote of the Day

2011-11-06T12:10:00.001-05:00

Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”
-William Shakespeare (The Tempest)

Literary Pick (****)

2011-11-06T08:52:00.001-05:00

Lullabies for Little Criminals
-Heather O'Neil

Literary Pick (****)

2011-10-25T21:24:00.001-04:00

Maria Callas: Sacred Monster
-Stelios Galatopoulos

Lyrics

2011-10-15T17:02:00.000-04:00

Vissi d’arte
Vissi d’arte, vissi d’amore,
non feci mai male ad anima viva!
Con man furtiva
quante miserie conobbi aiutai.
Sempre con fè sincera
la mia preghiera
ai santi tabernacoli salì.
Sempre con fè sincera
diedi fiori agl’altar.
Nell’ora del dolore
perchè, perchè, Signore,
perchè me ne rimuneri così?
Diedi gioielli della Madonna al manto,
e diedi il canto agli astri, al ciel,
che ne ridean più belli.
Nell’ora del dolor
perchè, perchè, Signor,
ah, perchè me ne rimuneri così?

-Tosca's Aria from Puccini's Tosca

Literary Pick (****)

2011-10-06T22:06:00.002-04:00

No Fear Shakespeare

-Sparknotes

I can't believe it's taken me this long to read my first Shakespeare play. I enjoyed the story of King Lear so much! more than I ever thought I would. I didn't expect parts to be so comical. I was under the impression King Lear was a totally solemn story, but instead was rather dramatically amusing. I do have to admit I opted for the "plain English" version of this edition because I feel that since it's my first time reading Shakespeare, it's much more important to first understand what the play is about before reading the work in it's original text.

Quote of the Day

2011-10-03T20:19:00.000-04:00

“On a day of burial there is no perspective--for space itself is annihilated. Your dead friend is still a fragmentary being. The day you bury him is a day of chores and crowds, of hands false or true to be shaken, of the immediate cares of mourning. The dead friend will not really die until tomorrow, when silence is round you again. Then he will show himself complete, as he was--to tear himself away, as he was, from the substantial you. Only then will you cry out because of him who is leaving and whom you cannot detain.”

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Literary Pick (***)

2011-10-03T19:53:00.002-04:00

Siddhartha

-Herman Hesse

The novel by Hermann Hesse is basically about a young man (Siddhartha) who abandons his noble family home to lead an ascetic life, but he then meets the Buddha, and goes after a life of materialism, realizing 20 years later he is repulsed by his new lifestyle of lust (in which he conceives a son with a courtesan by the name of Kamala) and over-indulgence, he once again abandons everything and goes in search of himself. He then meets with a ferryman Vesudeva, who guides and teaches him to listen to the river, which is meant to symbolize "the great song of a thousand voices consisting of one word: OM-perfection." Only then does Siddhartha achieve true enlightenment. I give this book three stars for it's category, which is spirituality. I normally wouldn't read a book on this subject, but It's a classic and a short read so I decided to give it a try. I enjoyed how it was written and I learned a few things about Hindu religions and monks.

2011-10-02T13:52:00.000-04:00

Design Traveller

Literary Pick (****)

2011-10-02T12:50:00.009-04:00

The Book Thief
-Markus Zusak

This is one of the sweetest books I've ever read. It's like the Author took The Diary of a Young Girl and a Tree Grows in Brooklyn and meshed them together to create The Book Thief.
The Conceptual purity of expression in giving colors feelings was something I could immediately connect with. One of my favorite quotes in the world by August Macke is..."My entire joy in life comes almost entirely from pure colour". I've always believed colors play a much more essential role than just the superficial aesthetic value they initially present. There are times when I can clearly see a certain day and it's atmospheric greenish tint, and it astounds me when no one else around me sees it. I believe assigning colors to emotions and events is the primary quality of this novel. It's what pulled the reader into the history of the events and what gives it true affection and compassion. There is also the story of Liesel, a little Jewish girl who is adopted by German (non-Jewish) parents Hans and Rosa Hubberman, in the fictional town of Molching in Munich, Germany... I won't give much away because I don't want to ruin it for the people who haven't read it yet, (*ahem*..my husband) but it's a story about hope, not giving up, standing up for what is right, even if that means possible persecution.
The authors ability to add tenderness to a history which is so obviously tragic, and from a German perspective, in any manner, is praisable to say the least. What's even more amazing is that the author is so young. Only 36 years old. I'm pretty hard to impress when it comes to modern literature, but I must say, this book is one that will have it's place among the classics years down the road.

The cover (Domino cover edition) seems inappropriate for the theme of the book. I could think of several other ideas which would be much more suitable for the story. Like an accordion...or maybe an illustratrion of a little boy and girl.

Cultural News

2011-09-25T11:25:00.000-04:00

Seven Deadly Words of Book Reviewing

By Bob Harris

Like all professions book reviewing has a lingo. Out of laziness, haste or a misguided effort to sound “literary,” reviewers use some words with startling predictability. Each of these seven entries is a perfectly good word (well, maybe not eschew), but they crop up in book reviews with wearying regularity. To little avail, admonitions abound. “The best critics,” Follett writes, “are those who use the plainest words and who make their taste rational by describing actions rather than by reporting or imputing feelings.” Now, the list:
poignant: Something you read may affect you, or move you. That doesn’t mean it’s poignant. Something is poignant when it’s keenly, even painfully, affecting. When Bambi’s mom dies an adult may think it poignant. A child probably finds it terrifying.
compelling: Many things in life, and in books, are compelling. The problem is that too often in book reviews far too many things are found to be such. A book may be a page turner, but that doesn’t necessarily make it compelling. Overuse has weakened a word that implies an overwhelming force.
Reviewers often combine these first two words. Like Chekhov’s gun. If there is a poignant in a review’s third paragraph, a compelling will most likely follow. Frequently reviewers forestall the suspense and link the words right away, as in “this poignant and compelling novel…”
intriguing: It doesn’t mean merely interesting or fascinating although it’s almost always used in place of one of those words. When it is, the sense of something illicit and mysterious is lost.
eschew: No one actually says this word in real life. It appears almost exclusively in writing when the perp is stretching for a flashy synonym for avoid or reject or shun.
craft (used as a verb): In “The Careful Writer,” Theodore M. Bernstein reminds us that “the advertising fraternity has decided craft is a verb.” Undeterred, reviewers use it when they are needlessly afraid of using plain old write. They also try to make pen a verb, as in “he penned a tome.”
muse (used as a verb): Few things in this world are mused. They are much more often simply written, thought or said. “War is hell,” he mused. Not much dreamy rumination there.
Stretching for the fanciful — writing “he crafts or pens” instead of “he writes”; writing “he muses” instead of “he says or thinks” — is a sure tip-off of weak writing.
lyrical: Reviewers use this adjective when they want to say something is well written. But using the word loosely misses the sense of expressing emotion in an imaginative and beautiful way. Save lyrical for your next review of Wordsworth.
It’s possible to (mis)use all seven words in a one-sentence book report: “Mario Puzo’s intriguing novel eschews the lyrical as the author instead crafts a poignant tale of family life and muses on the compelling doings of the Mob.”
Of course, these seven words aren’t the only ones overworked by book reviewers. After all, I haven’t even mentioned limn. Perhaps, readers, you’d like to add your favorites?

-NYT

2011-09-25T11:23:00.002-04:00

Kinfolk

Cultural News (Archives)

2011-09-24T16:50:00.000-04:00

Cheap Seats
It’s Not Over Till Your Arches Fall By Ben Sisario
Published: December 22, 2006

BY the end of the third act I was a mess — twitching, scratching, struggling to pay attention to Mimì’s tender farewell aria instead of the growing ache in my heels. How in the world was that little old lady in front of me staying so perfectly still?

It was “La Bohème” at the Met, and not just any “Bohème.” Anna Netrebko, the Julia Roberts of opera, was singing her one and only Mimì of the season, and tickets had been sold out for months. But I had scored a seat. Or at least a spot: I was in standing room, the Met’s time-honored concession to fanatics and penny pinchers, absorbing that most expensive of music at the lowest price possible.
Everything about the Metropolitan Opera conveys elegance and sophistication, from the gasp-inducing Zeffirelli sets and gawkworthy gowns (onstage and off) to the rows of Champagne flutes on the bar at intermission. It can all be intimidating, to say nothing of ticket prices as high as $375. And indeed the regular audience at the Met — the average subscriber is a 62-year-old making $120,000 a year — has been dwindling steadily over the last decade.
But things have never been better for budget-conscious opera fans in New York, in part because of the Met’s efforts to combat that decline. This season its new general manager, Peter Gelb, has introduced an array of ticket policies to attract new audiences and, as Mr. Gelb said in a recent interview, “lift the veil of formality that has shrouded the Met in recent decades.” These include lower prices for seats in the uppermost ring, an easier system for buying standing room tickets and a rush program that makes many orchestra seats available at a fraction of their regular cost.
The first stop for any bargain hunter at the opera — or the ballet, or Broadway — is standing room, the corridor along the back of the house where patrons, well, stand. On Broadway these tickets, usually around $20, normally go on sale each day for that evening’s show. For decades the Met has had a more peculiar, arduous system, in which spots were sold on Saturday for all the productions in the next week, but this season it scrapped the Saturday lineup and began offering same-day spots when the box office opens each morning.
I tried my luck a few Tuesdays ago with “La Bohème,” and I was amazed at the ease of the process. Clutching a cup of coffee and a newspaper, I speed-walked across the Lincoln Center plaza at 8:15, worried that I was too late to get one of the 175 standing places. To my surprise I was only the 25th person in the most congenial ticket line I had ever seen, with regulars and newcomers chatting in multiple languages, comparing singers and restaurant recommendations.
The operation was also remarkably efficient. Guards guided us swiftly through the snakes of velvet rope to the box office, where the clerks asked one question: “Upstairs or down?” I chose down — upstairs spaces are $5 less, but are way, way up in the fifth balcony — handed over my $20, and by 10:02 I was out the door.
Staying on one’s feet for three hours — or four, or five — can be a challenge, but the advantage of standing room is that it is available even when a show is hopelessly sold out. I breezed confidently past dozens of people looking for “extra” tickets that night.
Standees have assigned locations, each with its own little MetTitles screen. I was in No. 62, stage right and in the middle of three close rows separated by a cushioned rail. There is room, barely, to squeeze past one’s fellow standees and get in position, but the preferred method of movement seems to be ducking under the rails, sometimes blindly: while I waited at my space, the head of a gray-haired, wide-eyed man suddenly popped up next to me like a Whac-a-Mole. “I’m in 59!” he announced.
Shortly after the lights went down I realized my mistake: I had not borrowed opera glasses (and didn’t have $20 for the deposit on a rental pair), so in addition to all my itching and knee-bouncing, I was doomed to an evening of squinting as well. I couldn’t see Ms. Netrebko’s face very well as she sang “Mi chiamano Mimì,” but she sure sounded gorgeous.
Two days later I had an even easier time buying standing tickets at the New York State Theater, where the City Ballet was doing its annual “Nutcracker.” I was the only person in the entire foyer when I strolled in at lunchtime and bought a $12 spot in the somewhat vertiginous rear fourth ring.
I had never seen “The Nutcracker” before, and right away I became a mushy convert. It was as much a delight to follow the perky dancers — at this distance they really did look like toys and candies — as it was to see the little girl in front of me sit up and clap with excitement when the boy prince gallantly offered the Mouse King’s crown to his young love at the end of the first act.
It was also right around then that I thought how nice it would be to sit down. At intermission I found myself scoping out potential vacant spaces in vain, and thinking that any performance long enough to have an intermission would be better if one were seated.
Back at the Met, sitting is the new standing.
For generations standing room has been the default discount ticket. But this season impecunious opera lovers (like me) have two new alternatives. From Monday through Thursday, a seat in the back of the fifth-ring Family Circle can be guaranteed for $15, the same price as a standing space in that section. “Some standees may not like that,” Mr. Gelb said. “But I would rather have the audience sitting. It’s better for their legs.”
Or a $100 orchestra seat can be had for $20. Thanks to a $2 million grant from one of its board members, Agnes Varis, and her husband, Karl Leichtman, the Met is selling 200 prime seats for many shows for less than the cost of Chinese delivery for two.
These tickets go on sale two hours before curtain and, not surprisingly, have proved very popular: the Met has exhausted its supply every night they have been offered. For a performance of the hit “Don Carlo” production last week, the line began in the concourse downstairs from the box office and extended around the corner to the back entrance of the house.
At the front of the line was Masayo Yamada, a soft-spoken 29-year-old on an extended vacation from her human resources job in Japan. She has seen every production at the Met this season, she said, all on rush tickets; this was her third “Don Carlo,” and she had been waiting on line since 11:45 that morning. Dressed in a black coat with a light-blue scarf, she held a bag from a local bagel purveyor. “Sometimes I wear a kimono,” she said. “But today was too long to wear a kimono.”
The rush tickets do not buy the best seats in the orchestra. They tend to be on the extreme left and right of the hall, or in the back, but as I found at a weekday performance of “Idomeneo,” quick moves can greatly improve one’s station. I was in seat P33, far stage right, and just beginning to sink into my chair when the lights started to go down.
All at once people around me darted out of their seats like horses at Saratoga, heading for unoccupied spaces closer to the center aisle. Caught off guard, I was only able to move two seats in. But with each intermission I moved a few more, until I was most definitely in one of the best seats in the house, and I enjoyed the opera tremendously.
I could see the same sense of joy and satisfaction in Ms. Yamada. About 20 minutes before the rush tickets for “Don Carlo” went on sale, the line was moved upstairs to the side of the box office, and Ms. Yamada waited expectantly for the guards to lead her to a window. When she got her ticket, she walked out holding it and smiling widely.
“E26,” she beamed. “Isn’t that great?”

NYT

2011-09-24T16:37:00.010-04:00

Pennyweight

Rifle Paper Co.

Photograph of the Moment

2011-09-23T20:01:00.002-04:00

Lauren Bacall

Lyrics

2011-09-22T23:01:00.002-04:00

All I Ask Of You (The Phantom Of The Opera)
- Andrew Lloyd Webber

No more talk of darkness
Forget these wide-eyed fears
I'm here, nothing can harm you
My words will warm and calm you

Let me be your freedom
Let daylight dry your tears
I'm here, with you, beside you
To guard you and to guide you

(Christine)
Say you'll love me every waking moment
Turn my head with talk of summer time
Say you need me with you now and always
Promise me that all you say is true
That's all I ask of you

[Raoul]
Let me be your shelter
Let me be your light
You're safe, no one will find you
Your fears are far behind you

[Christine]
All I want is freedom
A world with no more night
And you, always beside me
To hold me and to hide me

[Raoul]
Then say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime
Let me lead you from your solitude
Say you need me with you here, beside you
Anywhere you go, let me go too
Christine, that's all I ask of you

[Christine]
Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime
Say the word and I will follow you

[Both]
Share each day with me, each night, each morning

[Christine]
Say you love me

[Raoul]
You know I do

[Both]
Love me, that's all I ask of you.

(They kiss. Raoul lifts Christine off her feet, into his arms and holds her)

[Both]
Anywhere you go, let me go too
Love me, that's all I ask of you

[Phantom]
I gave you my music, made your song take wing.
And now, how you've repaid me, denied me and betrayed me.
He was bound to love you, when he heard you sing.
(sobs)Christine, Christine.

[Both]
Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime
Say the word and I will follow you
Share each day with me, each night, each morning...

[Phantom]
You will curse the day you did not do all that the Phantom asked of you!

Literary Pick (****)

2011-09-20T11:57:00.006-04:00

The Duel
-Anton Checkhov

I did not expect this book to make me laugh, and I especially didn't expect it to be so good. I picked it up on a whim at the local bookstore. I knew I one day wanted to read something by Anton Chekhov, and this seemed like a cautionary introduction to his work since it's only 161 pages long. I actually enjoyed his style of writing more than Tolstoys. Tolstoy took himself too seriously and did not seem to have a sense of humor. Looks like Checkhov did.
To me this book is a petite morality manifesto. I wish modern-day writers would address morality issues more often and more seriously, if at all. It makes me feel terribly old-fashioned and prudish, but it seems that anyone who gets anywhere near the subject of morality comes off as a total fanatic fundamentalist wack-job. The only other respectable writer who addresses morality issues with such vehement passion was Tolstoy, which is why I loved the Kreutzer Sonata. I'll definitely keep an eye out for more of Chekhovs work. Any recommendations are appreciated.

2011-09-18T18:09:00.000-04:00

Sweetcakes Bakeshop

Literary Pick (**)

2011-09-17T21:39:00.006-04:00

Saturday-Ian McEwan

Beautifully written but very slowly developed and a little pretentious.

2011-09-16T19:43:00.006-04:00

Joon&Jung

Lushlee

Teenangster

Speech

2011-09-12T19:31:00.001-04:00

We shall fight them on the beaches
-4 June 1940
“I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.
At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty’s Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation.
The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength.
Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail.
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”

Winston Churchill

Quote of the Day

2011-09-10T21:40:00.000-04:00

"Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn't that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you."
— Marilyn Monroe

Art of the Day

2011-09-10T21:16:00.000-04:00

Alexander Calder (1942)

Literary Pick(***)

2011-09-10T21:12:00.008-04:00

I am Nujood (Age 10 and Divorced)
-Nujood Ali, Delphine Minoui

I give this book three stars, not because of the writing but because of Nujood's story. It's so frustrating to see a story like this fall into the hands of someone who fails to execute it in a way that screams out at society for attention. Writers who take on important subjects as this have a moral obligation as a journalist to either bring a story like this to the highest point of exposure possible or to simply step away. I'm aware now that Nujood's story received international coverage, but how is it that I didn't hear about this story until perusing books in the biography section of the local Barnes & Nobles? the cover title is certainly intriguing "(I Am Nujood) Age 10 and Divorced", but perhaps it's because, simply put, the book sucks. Let's first address the format...I think a fairytale scheme plays down and minimizes the severity of the subject. I understand it was suppose to be told by Nujood, a child, which is not at all convincing. It's obvious, to me at least, that the story was mostly told by Delphine Minoui, the supposed co-author of the book. However, I believe a more dramatic, investigative report approach would have been a more effective way of bringing awareness to this culture-sensitive subject. Another thing that bothered me about the book is that it's only 176 pages long. Which I believe is not nearly long enough to describe the horrors and torments this child had to endure for 2 long months, and that's not including the court case itself and some more background information on her family dynamics. The author spent most of the beginning of the book describing the scenery of the Yemeni region in the Middle East, which I think it's safe to say we're all familiar with. And please don't tell me that shit was symbolism. This story is grossly insufficient.
Now to get to the unanswered questions of Nujood's life...how was it for her when she had to return home to her parents from court after the divorce was granted? I would assume she got a beating from her father and brother for "dishonoring" and bringing shame to the family. That part wasn't addressed or questioned. What happened to Ada's second wife who assisted Nujood in her escape? why didn't anyone bother interviewing her? Why didn't Nujood seek asylum when she visited France? Also, I'm not totally convinced the royalties to this book are being dispersed to the Ali family.. there were just too many unanswered questions. It'll be interesting to see how the Ali family developes within the next 10 years. I think Nujood in this year of 2012 must be around 12-13 years of age.. we can only hope she is allowed to finish school and realize her dreams of becoming a lawyer. There is no question she is incredibly courageous. I wish her the best and I will be keeping my ears open for updates on her life.

Literary Pick (*)

2011-09-08T23:04:00.006-04:00

2666

-Roberto Bolaño

Either this book was brilliantly clandestine, or unabashedly dull.

I've been putting off reviewing this novel for the longest time because I had notes on it on several different scraps of paper, desktop documents and 2 notebooks. I would like to begin by offering an overview of my impression of the work as a whole. Having read two other works by Bolaño, and being a great fan of his style and ideas, I have to say, that not only was I not impressed by 2666, but it also left me scratching my head as to why on earth it got such good reviews.

Most of the raves came from the male population on goodreads, and I have to admit it's a bit disturbing to me. Not sure why, but I have many things to discuss so I won't waste any time trying to analyze why they enjoyed this book so much.

As much as I despise men's weaknesses, I seldom, very seldom, use literature as a platform to voice my feminist views on certain subjects. I like to think of myself as an unbiased reader who can accept women depicted in any way, shape or form. I think the only book I remember ever reading that was straight out misogynistic was Milan's Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", and when a goodreads member described 2666 as "misogynistic", it made me wonder what they were referring to. I later understood what this member meant, when the guys started telling women jokes, which probably was the point in which I became offended and disgusted with the entire story. However, I had already been struggling with the story long before that.

The jokes are on page 552. It felt like they were adding insult to injury. Up until then I simply judged it as a book I wasn't enjoying that much, but when the jokes started rolling, In a weird way I felt all the victims in the book were being mocked. Sort of like when you trust someone, and share your trauma with them, and they act like they're going to help you, and then you overhear them in the next room laughing at you, laughing at your misfortune. There was definitely a feeling of betrayal. So it stirred up a bit of emotion.

But let's get back to the reasons why I didn't enjoy this book. I understand Bolano wrote it when he was aware of his imminent death. So I feel like his melancholy might have been the reason why he thought It was important to record and enclose every single thought that came to him mind regarding this theme.

I'm not sure if this comparison has ever been made between Bolano and Dante, but you know how in The Divine Comedy, Dante tries to cover a vast array of subjects such as theology, astrology, paganism, mathematics, etc? Well, Bolaño did same thing, not sure if it was intentional, but he covered topics (just off the top of my head) such as math, geometry, mythology, religion, folklore, etc. There's no doubt that 2666 is incredibly diverse. I think I was a bit overwhelmed by it to be quite honest. I'm also by no means a lazy reader. I don't mind having to read 4, 5 even 6 chapters of material so long as there's a point and a reward, but it's simply too much for a writer to ask a reader to read 400+ pages of directionless writing. Even Nabakov couldn't ask that of me!

Parts I thought were semi-interesting ultimately lead nowhere. For example, the most interesting part of the book to me was the hanging of the book upside down on the clothesline, because I'm a huge fan of conceptual art and it reminded me of something Yoko Ono would do.

I thought, ok, the life stories are boring, and seem to go nowhere, but I know that when I get to part 4, oh yeah! it's going to describe crazy gory scenes of how these women were tortured and killed and raped a million ways till Sunday, and I expected some real trujillo mind-bending WTFuckness. But it was all just a list, a banal list of one after the other. Another woman was found stabbed... another woman was found raped... another woman was found without her socks on...

Murders. And murders. And more murders. Page after page, with chapters that were 300 pages long. And there weren't juicy descriptions of murders, or backgrounds on any of the victims making you sympathize with them. It was like watching old episodes of the First 48. Do you care about those victims? sadly, you don't. It's more about the authorities solving the murders than it is about the loss of life. None of it was that morbid to me. Anyone who thinks so must be a sheltered person who lives in Mankato or something. I was expecting some real crazy shit like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or silence of the lambs, but it felt like I was reading groundhogs day with Bill Murray.

Then Bolano tried to build up a climax by revealing that Reiter was Archimboldi, but by then I was suffering from such an extreme state of readers fatigue that the element of surprise was totally lost on me.

Then while I was not looking, the most horrible thing happened, I got up to get a glass of water and when I returned the book had become War and Peace! how many subjects did this man try to cover?!

Then all the character stories left you nowhere. What happened to the father and daughter? How about the black guy and the girl he helped escape? So many other characters who simply drifted to nowhere land. It was a very difficult book for me to read, to understand, follow, you name it. I simply don't understand why guys rated this book so high.

Architecture

2011-09-06T19:41:00.003-04:00

El Ateneo Grand Splendid
-Peró and Torres Armengol

Bookshop in Argentina

Quote of the Day

2011-09-06T19:16:00.000-04:00

The wit of cheats, the courage of a whore,
Are what ten thousand envy and adore:
All, all look up with reverential awe,
At crimes that ‘scape, or triumph o’er the law
-Alexander Pope

Art of the Day

2011-09-04T19:22:00.002-04:00

The Ambassadors
-Hans Holbein the Younger
(1533)

2011-09-03T19:33:00.017-04:00

Coveteur

Coffee Talk

PW. on bluepoolroad

A Lovely Being

Architecture

2011-09-02T15:07:00.002-04:00

Philadelphia Art Museum Pediment

Eos, Nous, Adonis, Hippomenes (lion), Eros, Aphrodite, Zeus, Demeter, Triptolemus, Ariadne, Theseus, Minotaur, Python

Portico detail

-Horace Trumbauer and the firm of Zantzinger, Borie and Medary.

Honor Spotlight

2011-08-31T11:45:00.006-04:00

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti

Nicola Sacco (died 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1888-1927), Italian-born anarchists, became the subject of one of America's most celebrated controversies and the focus for much of the liberal and radical protest of the 1920s in the United States. The execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti in Boston in 1927 brought to an end a struggle of more than 6 years on the part of Americans and Europeans who had become convinced that they were innocent of the crimes of robbery and murder. For a sizable portion of the American intellectual community their case symbolized the fight for justice for ethnic minorities, the poor, and the politically unorthodox. The case had a catalytic influence on the subsequent development of leftist thought in America.

Quote of the Day

2011-08-30T19:25:00.002-04:00

"Betray a friend, and you'll often find you have ruined yourself."
— Aesop (Aesop's Fables)

Art of the Day

2011-08-27T21:04:00.002-04:00

Beer Street and Gin Lane
-William Hogarth

Quote of the Day

2011-08-27T20:08:00.002-04:00

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
— Martin Luther King Jr.

2011-08-27T17:33:00.002-04:00

Note To Self

Sunday In Bed

2011-08-24T19:15:00.001-04:00

Clark Gable
-King of Hollywood

2011-08-24T18:46:00.013-04:00

Pretty Stuff

Architecture

2011-08-18T11:38:00.000-04:00

Hearst Castle- Celestial Suite

Quote of the Day

2011-08-17T20:57:00.006-04:00

Pornography is about dominance. Erotica is about mutuality.
-Gloria Steinem

Literary Pick (***)

2011-08-15T09:34:00.004-04:00

La Callas
-André Tubeuf

Mostly photographs with a very brief, if not meager bio.

Literary Quote

2011-08-14T15:24:00.000-04:00

"Here sighs and cries and shrieks of lamentation
echoed throughout the starless air of Hell;
at first these sounds resounding made me weep:

tongues confused, a language strained in anguish
with cadences of anger, shrill outcries
and raucous groans that joined with sounds of hands,
raising a whirling storm that turns itself
forever through that air of endless black,
like grains of sand swirling when a whirlwind blows.

And I, in the midst of all this circling horror,
began, "Teacher, what are these sounds I hear?
What souls are these so overwhelmed by grief?"

And he to me: "This wretched state of being
is the fate of those sad souls who lived a life
but lived it with no blame and with no praise.
They are mixed with that repulsive choir of angels
neither faithful nor unfaithful to their God,
who undecided stood but for themselves.

Heaven, to keep its beauty, cast them out,
but even Hell itself would not receive them,
for fear the damned might glory over them."

And I. "Master, what torments do they suffer
that force them to lament so bitterly?"
He answered: "I will tell you in few words:

these wretches have no hope of truly dying,
and this blind life they lead is so abject
it makes them envy every other fate.

The world will not record their having been there;
Heaven's mercy and its justice turn from them.
Let's not discuss them; look and pass them by..."
— Dante Alighieri

2011-08-12T21:54:00.000-04:00

Not Without Salt

2011-08-12T21:45:00.000-04:00

wit +delight

wit+delight (tumbler)

Honor Spotlight

2011-08-06T21:55:00.000-04:00

Lucille Ball (1911-1989)

Quote of the Day

2011-08-03T12:37:00.002-04:00

"I don't have pet peeves - I have major psychotic fucking hatreds."
— George Carlin

Cultural News

2011-08-01T20:01:00.000-04:00

Pa. judge hears arguments over moving Barnes

By JOANN LOVIGLIO, Associated Press – 13 hours ago

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The Barnes Foundation's new home is well under construction in Philadelphia but a long and bitter fight continues over whether the world-famous art collection should stay in its longtime suburban home.

Montgomery County Orphans' Court Judge Stanley Ott presided over a packed two-hour hearing Monday afternoon on the ongoing Barnes saga. He approved the proceeding after a request from a citizens group that argued he didn't have all the evidence when he approved the relocation in 2004.

The Friends of the Barnes Foundation, a group trying to halt the multibillion-dollar collection's 5-mile move from suburban Lower Merion, said Ott was misled by the actions of the attorney general's office, which has oversight over charitable trusts.

Samuel Stretton, an attorney representing the group, argued that then-Attorney General Mike Fisher, now a federal appeals judge, failed to serve as a neutral party and instead was "essentially a cheerleader" in facilitating the collection's move by undermining and pressuring the Barnes' controlling board of trustees to go along with the relocation.

Barnes Foundation attorney Ralph Wellington said Ott had determined years ago that the citizens group has no legal standing in the case. He also said their understanding of the attorney general's responsibility in such legal matters is incorrect because Fisher's role was not to be neutral but to act in Pennsylvanians' best interest, which meant preventing the cash-strapped organization from closing or selling off its collection.

"It is baseless factually and filed by people who have no right to do so," Wellington said of the opponents' petition.

Dr. Albert C. Barnes, a pharmaceutical magnate, amassed a collection regarded as one of the world's greatest private holdings of contemporary art, which includes 181 Renoirs, 69 Cezannes, 60 Matisses, 44 Picassos and thousands of other objects.

He established the Barnes Foundation in 1922 to teach populist methods of appreciating and evaluating art. He tightly grouped his paintings with antique ironwork, furniture and African sculpture to illustrate universal aesthetic themes.

The trust of Barnes, a self-made millionaire who died in a 1951 car crash at age 78, stipulated that his trove of 800 impressionist and postimpressionist masterpieces "remain in exactly the places they are" after his death and gave control of his foundation to Lincoln University, a historically black school in nearby Chester County.

Barnes Foundation officials first asked Ott's permission in 2002 to relocate near Philadelphia's museums and cultural attractions. The foundation said its endowment was exhausted and it would go bankrupt if required to remain in Lower Merion, where it was subject to restrictive township zoning regulations severely limiting the number of visitors.

The Pew Charitable Trusts, The Lenfest Foundation and The Annenberg Foundation promised to help the Barnes raise $150 million for a new gallery and an endowment when the relocation to Philadelphia was approved. In exchange, Lincoln University ceded control of the foundation's board of trustees and permitted its new benefactors to appoint their own members.

The Barnes galleries closed in July. The new building is scheduled to open next year on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, near the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Rodin Museum.

Ott did not say when he would issue a ruling on the latest petition, but attorneys said they expect it could take about a month.

Literary Pick (****)

2011-08-01T15:31:00.003-04:00

We Need To Talk About Kevin
-Lionel Shriver

Something about today's modern literature irritates me and almost always provokes me to go on a rant as to why. Now that I think of it, why should modern literature be any different than the stuff they play on TV today? The female character (Eva) in "We Need to Talk about Kevin", wasn't any different than what I've been trying to avoid, and I'll tell you why. First of all I chose this book as a change of pace from the kind of literature I normally read. I know modern lit is all about sensationalism, and I guess that's what I was in search of for my next read, although, typically, it's that very aspect I try to avoid because in the words of Roberto Bolano, tends to be overdone in the "exotic stereotype" department. Eva fit the perfect stereotypical example of what today's authors create and think women love, and they must, because these books sell. But why is it that I choose novels where the protagonist or main narrator is almost always a whiny , show-offy, upper-middle class snobby suburbanite woman or wife? I mean this Eva character wreaks of Allison Wynn Scott and Eat Pray Love, without the romance. But you want to know what the insulting part of the novel is? The typical modern career woman who makes a 6 figure salary, and somehow gets to travel all over the world, because they always get to travel all over the world, you know.. which to them is a nuisance *roll of the eyes here*. They also almost all the time have a NYC Apt. which then eventually gets upgraded to a center hall colonial in Westchester county. I swear, this same thing happened in Time of My Life and in Eat Pray love, except in eat pray love, she moves to Bali. Then they marry someone who isn't exactly PERFECT, but to desperate book-wormy housewives, like ourselves, a 6'2 tall brawny manly man who plays the part of the great ALL-American dad and is willing to stay home and take care of the kids while the wife goes in search of themselves, will do for us any day of the week. I feel like novels don't even try to be different anymore. It's the same old tired story lines with slightly different edgy inserts. And it's not that the premise of the story isn't an interesting one, because it is, which is why I chose it to begin with. It's the way authors craft these women/protagonists. Why does everyone have to be so goddamn perfect? perfect husband, perfect car, perfect career, perfect clothes, perfect friends and the perfect bric-a-brac to decorate the perfect house.. It's such bullshit, it's trite..This could have been a 5 star novel if Eva was authentically flawed. Like if she had 40 hard pounds she's been struggling to lose for the last 15 years, or if she had a decent husband who cheats just a little. What's insulting is that the author then tries to convince us her life ISN'T all that perfect after all, by throwing in a not-so-perfect child murderer. Even her murderous son is a brilliant sociopath. See? perfect! But that is my only complaint, not only about this novel, but modern works in general, so I'll stop, take a deep breath and digress.
Now with all that being said, WOW!! I don't even know where to begin. I compared Eva's character very much to that of the awkwardness of when new sitcoms begin and the star actors have to find a comfortable niche in their roles. Shaky at the beginning but rapidly gaining confidence and comfort in their roles making them perfectly casted for the part.
It's not one of those stories that has you gripping the edges of your seat, but it's written in an intellectual, methodical manner. It's psychological and calculating.
I believe this book is about American accountability and culpability, or lack thereof.
It definitely possess a misanthropic theme, which I admit was very seductive to me since I myself am disgusted by people and their mediocrity. The mom hated society and so did her son, and in turn society hated them right back for what they did, because yes, they were both responsible for what Kevin did. Accountability.
This novel stirred the sinister part of me, that part that made me go to them both, nyeh, nyeh, nyeh... because I'm so sick of women like her, who have children like him, who don't end up shooting kids in the hall and we have to live amongst them for all our worldly life. It made me feel very evil to enjoy what they were both doing to each other. How they both were tearing eachother apart. I loved every minute of it. This book sops with hatred, shame, and abhorrence. It was my own personal fantasy of "I told you so" to society. It provided me with that sort of sick satisfaction.

RIP

2011-07-22T11:35:00.000-04:00

Lucian Freud
(8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011)

Quote of the Day

2011-07-21T23:24:00.000-04:00

"The worst part of success is trying to find someone who is happy for you."

— Bette Midler

Literary Pick (***)

2011-07-21T23:17:00.002-04:00

No Exit -Jean-Paul Sartre

Waited years to read this collection of plays by Sartre. My favorite of all the is "No Exit". I also enjoyed The Flies. I particularly enjoyed the realism of the dialogue.

Literary Pick (**)

2011-07-20T20:08:00.003-04:00

Slaughterhouse-Five
-Kurt Vonnegut

It's funny the misconceptions we have about certain books before we read them. I don't know why, but I thought this book was about a totalitarian society. Perhaps I read a description of one of his other books and thought it was Slaughterhouse-5? anyway...the theme is an anti-war theme that didn't really reach out to me. Sure the story was interesting enough and I enjoyed where Vonnegut was leading Billy's character, but to me it seemed to be the only real interesting part of the story, the rest of it was a flat-line. There were no highs and lows, it just glided on an even level. I know I haven't described much about what the book is about, so here it goes. A guy who once fought in the war tracks down a few of his friends because he wants to write about his war experiences, and so he begins to write a story about Billy, one of his war buddies, who becomes insane and eventually dies. Vonnegut, in my opinion, took the alien theme with Billy too far. I think that's what turned me off about the story. It seemed so unrealistic and fluffy. Had he with the exact talent omitted the alien stuff, I would have been able to enjoy it more, but I don't really have an open mind to subjects having to do with aliens or anything else of that nature, especially if it's dragged out too long. I know it was what Vonnegut thought necessary to demonstrate how crazy Billy's character was, but it was a bit too much for me. However, I love the way Vonnegut writes and I'm looking forward to reading Cats Cradle.

Art of the Day

2011-07-13T22:39:00.004-04:00

Fukami Sueharu (Japanese, born 1947)

View of Distant Sea II, ca. 1989
Molded porcelain with celadon glaze, 8 1/2 x 42 15/16 x 2 1/4 in. (21.6 x 109 x 5.7 cm)

This unusual porcelain sculpture resembles a wave about to break. It stands in opposition to the functional ceramics of traditional Japanese potters who "worship" unglazed clay, its tactile qualities, and the accidental effects that wood-fired kilns produce. Fukami challenges them by using electric kilns to minimize uncontrolled processes, by using molds to cast his creations, and by applying high-quality glazes of subtle, varying density. Despite his extensive control of color and form, one detects a slightly wavering edge; its gentle curve and subtle irregularity softens and at the same time enlivens the severe geometry of the piece. The Zen-like meditative mood of the work, and the celadon color, reminiscent of Chinese Song dynasty ceramics, suggest an Asian idiom for a work that otherwise speaks a universal language of visual art.

Literary Pick (***)

2011-07-13T12:09:00.002-04:00

The Motorcycle Diaries- A Latin-American Journey
-Che Guevara

I couldn't have picked a better book to read after finishing On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Reading The Motorcycle Diaries proved to me that I can indeed enjoy a man's journey so long as it's a meaningful journey with a purpose, and not a selfish odyssey of drunken fools looking for high times and easy girls.

The Motorcycle Diaries wasn't as inspirational as I hoped it would be, but it was a humanitarian journey nevertheless, that I truly enjoyed reading. His altruistic lifestyle inspires me to be a better person. I'm still learning a lot about Che, and this is the second book I've read on his life and I'm looking forward to learning more about his life and causes.

Quote of the Day

2011-07-07T18:52:00.002-04:00

"Justice is a matter between men, and I need no god to teach me it".

Orestes to Zeus in The Flies by Jean Paul Satre.

Literary Pick (*)

2011-07-07T11:16:00.006-04:00

On The Road

-Jack Kerouac

Ok. I'm done with reading about peoples boring lives.
Seriously though, let's examine this for a moment...What was so interesting about their road trip? What part of this book was remotely poignant and or even mildly entertaining? Honestly, to me, they were just a bunch of losers traveling just to be cool and have "experiences".
I don't mind reading about Che Guevara's revolutionary journey throughout south America, or Maria Callas' tumultuous love affairs, or Peggy Guggenheim's quest for the next great artist, but I refuse to read anymore books on the lives of supposed literary geniuses such as Violette Leduc, Fernando Pessoa, and Jack Kerouac, who in my opinion are very selfish people. First of all I have a lot of problems with our society today as it is, so to see these clowns doing nothing, adding nothing to our earth, and just taking away, it makes me sick. I think these people are so disgusting, and to think anyone would be interested in reading about their "experiences" is rather narcissistic and egotistical. Only in our generation of reality TV and senseless shows on the endless possibilities of people's stupidity can a book like this be enjoyed. Deep down inside I knew "On The Road" wouldn't be the kind of book i would enjoy, just the title alone, "On The Road" sounds so annoying and cliched...on the road with whom? and what exactly happened to you on the road that was so important you felt the need to write about it? did you lose an arm, your dignity, a friend? if none of these things happened to you and you're just writing to tell me all about the fun times you had on your very unique journey, please save your breath. I'm not amused nor interested in grown immature men looking for fun times on the road and writing memoirs about it. It is so beyond idiotic. If Kerouac was as gifted as Yates, I could see accepting it as an idea in literature, but Kerouac doesn't even come close to being as endowed. Sure he's talented enough to get by as a writer, but so what? why couldn't he write for a magazine and be happy it? How is Kerouac a great writer? Point me in the direction of brilliant passages in this book, please, because I haven't been able to find one.
I'm mostly angry at myself, because in my quest to experience many different kinds of writing, styles and themes I've had to trudge through many of these books, and every time I believe each one will be different, but they're not. I truly believe this book became popular by beat generation groupies/hippies looking for something to grasp, something to believe in, something to be a part of other than their useless existence. The beat generation is not much different than the generation we're living in now.

2011-06-24T11:09:00.000-04:00

Quote of the Day

2011-06-14T20:43:00.003-04:00

"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat, or a prostitute."

— Rebecca West

Literary Pick (**)

2011-06-12T17:20:00.007-04:00

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
-Mark Twain

Didn't enjoy Huck Finn as much as I enjoyed Tom Sawyer, and I only gave Tom Sawyer 3 stars. I do appreciate Twain's wit and clever style of thinking, but this was not my kind of literature. Huck Finn seemed to me cliched and depth-less.

Literary Pick (**)

2011-05-19T22:24:00.006-04:00

Franny and Zooey
J.D. Salinger

The main reason I didn't enjoy this book as much as I could have is because I kept looking for the similarities between Franny and Zooey in The Royal Tannenbaums, a movie I happen to love! I did however, got to enjoy once again Salinger's writing.

Literary Pick (**)

2011-05-19T19:32:00.003-04:00

La Batard
Violette Leduc

Violette Leduc always gets the shitty end of the stick. I do too. So what.

Quote of the Day

2011-05-11T21:42:00.000-04:00

"Solitude is fine but you need someone to tell that solitude is fine."
— Honoré de Balzac

Literary Pick (**)

2011-04-21T00:28:00.006-04:00

The Poetry of Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda

I hate that I have to write this. Neruda's poetry didn't move me as much as I thought it would. His poetry is very similar to that of Walt Whitman, who I also didn't particularly enjoy. I've read so many references to the beauty of Neruda's poetry, I just thought they would be painfully and beautifully romantic, but they were just regular poems. I did however enjoy a couple, but my favorite in this mammoth collection of poetry is one by the title of "Your Laughter".

Photograph of the Day

2011-03-28T15:20:00.000-04:00

Marlon Brando

Literary Pick (****)

2011-03-28T15:16:00.004-04:00

The Feast of the Goat
-Mario Vargas Llosa

Luckily for me I was already familiar with Trujillo's reign of terror from previously reading "The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz. Perhaps that is how I became fascinated by Trujillo's tyrannical reputation as the president of The Dominican Republic. The stories about Trujillo are like the kafkaesque nightmares that most of us have experienced, about the fear of losing one's freedom, losing one's integrity and self-respect. Fears of being unable to escape that all too watchful omnipresent entity. Trujillo was a living devil, he took whatever he wanted and banished anyone who not only opposed his regime, but also those who even thought of opposing it. He was the absolute ultimate psychological oppressor. He was known to publicly humiliate high-ranking member officials of his own inner circle, in person and through the local newspaper, which was of course owned by the Trujillo family. If he wanted to have sex with someone's wife or daughter, there was not much a husband or father could do about it. If they resisted they would simply be sent to jail to be tortured and maimed by Johnny Abbes, head of the SIM, another ruthless heartless demon who worked for Trujillo. Trujillo was indeed a goat who consumed everything in his path. His demonic presence was so strong in the hearts of the Dominican people that even after his death citizens were still terrified of him, as if he would come back from the dead and punish all those who dared believe he was mortal.
The Feast of the Goat weaves the fictional story of the life of Urania Cabral and her father Agustin Cabral (president of the senate), with non-fictional events of the Trujillo era and regime. Each chapter is jammed packed with fascinating and unbelievable accounts of some of the events that occurred during this period, It's one of the best books I ever read this year. However, I admit that one of the reasons I was able to enjoy it as much as I did is because I was already familiar with the history of the Trujillo era. This book could be overwhelming for someone who is not familiar with it, so It's really worth looking into before diving in. The only fault in the book is that Llosa tended to quickly switch from narrating, to story-telling, if that makes any sense at all.. So one has to pay close attention to who is speaking and what scene is taking place at any given moment. Other than that each and every chapter of the book was enthralling. I'm so tempted to give it 5 stars but I think it was just a 4. A good four.

2011-03-24T21:34:00.000-04:00

Food Loves Writing

RIP

2011-03-23T13:59:00.000-04:00

Elizabeth Taylor
(February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011)

Literary Pick (***)

2011-03-20T11:52:00.006-04:00

The Easter Parade -Richard Yates

Quite an interesting story, but not half as good as Revolutionary Road. The synopsis on the back cover suggests the story is about two sisters, Sarah and Emily Grimes, but it seems to focus more on the younger sister, Emily, a divorcee career woman who has had quite a few casual relationships in her life. Her sister Sarah, is married to an abuser, they have three boys. Sarah is an alcoholic like their mother Esther (kookie) Grimes. I think their father, Esther's husband, was an alcoholic too. The novel is a steady-paced account of the lives of these two siblings. But mostly about Emily's detached relationship with her mother and sister. I guess Emily, as a then modern-day career woman (the only one in the family who graduated college) felt smarter in more ways than one than her sister who got married so young, and her over-bearing mother who ultimately ends up in an insane asylum. In the end Emily ends up worse than her mother and sister. Her live-in boyfriend leaves for an ex-wife. She then loses her job, ends up in a smaller Apt. on unemployment, with nothing to do, nowhere to go. She decides to call an estranged nephew, (Sarah's son) moves to New England to stay with him, his wife and their little girl, has a mini nervous breakdown from the station to his house. I think this book might have impacted me more than I'd like to admit.

Yates is so easy and pleasant to read, so although I didn't consider this a 4-5 star novel, I still enjoyed reading his work and I thought the story was very unique.

Photograph of the Day

2011-03-20T11:47:00.000-04:00

Viviene Leigh

Literary Pick (**)

2011-03-14T22:26:00.005-04:00

The Bauhaus Group: Six Masters of Modernism
Nicholas Fox Weber

Not as exciting as I anticipated. I expected the story of The Bauhaus Group to be as riveting as Peggy Guggenheims "Art Lover" or Frederick Kaisler's "Art of this Century", instead it was excruciatingly boring. I did however, enjoy reading about Gropius, Klee and Kandisnky's lives, but somehow I knew that once the author got to the Albers' life the gossip wouldn't be as juicy, since most of the recollections came from Annie Albers and Josef themselves, (they were married for over 50 years). I've had an interest in learning more about the Bauhaus group for quite some time, but I can't say I learned much about the movement or it's aim from reading this book. I think Weber might have even turned me off to the movement entirely. I give it only two stars.

Literary Pick (*)

2011-03-01T22:58:00.012-05:00

Anna Karenina- Leo Tolstoy

This book took me too long to finish. Normally, I go through books faster than I go through towels, but Anna Karenina is true to Tolstoy's form, he writes beautifully, but what's missing is deep-rooted psychological honesty and emotion. Sometimes I think Tolstoy was too hung up on his own agenda of Puritanism to allow himself to be true to the realistic direction of human nature. For Tolstoy women belonged here, and men belonged there, and you read it in all of his books. He was also hung up on peasant-workers (muzhiks) and their rights, a topic that resurfaces in all of his works. Although his short stories, The Kruetzer Sonata and The Death of Ivan Illych are two of my all-time favorite stories, I'm glad I don't have to read any other of his larger works ever again.

I would like to say that the most disappointing part of the novel wasn't Anna's anti-climatic suicide, but Levin's totally superfluous character.

Literary Pick (****)

2011-02-11T20:22:00.003-05:00

Salvador Dali and the Surrealists
-Michael Elsohn Ross

This is a biography and activity art-book intended for young adults. I received it as a Christmas present from my SIL, who isn't an art lover, as far as I know, which perhaps explains why she gave me this book in the first place, but I was very happy to receive it nevertheless. Surprisingly, up until now I had never read anything on Dali. Of course I've heard of Dali and the surrealist movement.. who hasn't? but that's as far as my knowledge of him extended. I can easily identify his artworks, but I knew nothing of his life. This book perhaps inadvertently portrayed him as an insecure obnoxious rival-rouser struggling to remain confident throughout his early art career. He was portrayed as an attention-whoring opportunist, turning his back on old friends and colleagues once he gained fame and notoriety. He seemed like the Heidi Spencer of his time. However, deep down inside there is something very sad and pitiful about his career and his ego. He grew up as an insecure kid who was bullied throughout his early years in school, and slowly developed his confidence by having a generation me mentality, which made him extremely famous, but in his later years the fame seemed to have gone to his head and he began commercializing his artwork a bit too much, and it affected his credibility as a serious artist. He was in a very long relationship with a woman by the name of Gala, who seemed to have been very abusive towards him when he was old. I don't know..there's just something so sad about his life. But the book was very interesting and educational. It mentions art movements such as Dada, surrealism, expressionism, and pop-art. It also talks about Franco, Hitler, and how the WWI affected artists and the art world. I enjoyed it very much.

Literary Pick (***)

2011-02-04T21:11:00.004-05:00

The Unbearable Lightness of Being
-Milan Kundera

After reading the first 50 pages of Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I was very tempted to read the one and two star reviews on Goodreads. Most especially women's reaction to Kundera, but I did my best to refrain from doing so. As usual, I didn't want to be negatively influenced by anyone's reviews from the start.
There was something about this book that annoyed me very much, and I really did struggle to read it from a subjective point of view, however, the scenarios seemed so outrageously absurd and nonsensical that I simply couldn't get Kundera's narcissism and misogynism past the palate, and please note, that I don't say Thomas' or Franz' misogynism. It didn't feel like I was reading a character's character, it felt like I was reading Kundera's character. It's not that I cannot have an open mind and accept women portrayed as weak beings, who suffer and make mistakes and ruin their lives by making stupid choices, but come on! These women were so unrealistic in every conceivable way. Thomas would score 1-2 women a day? and that's after he lost his job as a Dr. and ended up as a window-cleaner? Is that funny or what? and what about Tereza and Sabina response to all this? The part when Tomas' hair smelled like vagina, and after months of enduring this smell Tereza asks Tomas to go wash his hair? I can go on and on about ridiculous instances but it's not even worth getting into. I could accept it as a work if the writing was brilliant, but it's not. It was ok but nothing extraordinary. The references to Ana Karenina make sense. Although I have not had the pleasure of reading Karenina yet, I am very familiar with Tolstoy's works and I understand he too was quite insensitive to women's needs and tended to be self-focused.
Anyway..further research confirmed my feeling about Kundera, he is notorious for representing women as nothing more than sex objects and mistresses.
I have to admit the story did keep me intrigued and curious enough to want to finish it, but overall I didn't enjoy it.

Literary Pick (***)

2011-01-30T20:12:00.006-05:00

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer -Mark Twain

Two years ago I set a goal to read as many classics as possible. I even started a "Classic's Challenge" thread on Goodreads in order to prioritize which classics I wanted to read first. About every four to six months this list of "classics" was revised and edited with items often being removed or added on. But in all these revisions I've never once added anything by Mark Twain, which surprises me, because Mark Twain is obviously a colossal name in literature. In fact, William Faulkner called him the "father of American literature". When I try to understand why I never added Mark Twain to my classics list, although I subconsciously intended to, eventually, all I could come up with is that I didn't feel like reading about little boy adventures and rascalities. Mark Twain has always seemed a bit too wonder-breadish to me. I've always compared him to Walt Whitman, don't ask me why. I enjoyed Walt Whitman, but Whitman has always been white-breadish to me too and I wasn't sure if I was ready for another yeasty dose of that kind of literature. So, you ask, what made me finally add Twain to my list? Well, it was the press Huck Finn received about the inclusion of the "N" word into the new revised copies of the book, and since Tom Sawyer is the precursor to Huck Finn, I felt I had no choice but to read Tom Sawyer first.

My first impression upon reading the first chapter of Tom Sawyer was rather refreshing, especially after having finished reading something very challenging and strenuous.. but just as I expected, halfway through the story of Tom and his Shenanigans, I got a little bored. Little boys wreaking havoc has never appealed to me, and although Mark Twain is a lovely writer, because I do recognize his talents and appreciate his style, it was not sufficient enough to make me love it. However, I can see why Twains composition appeals to mature audiences. It's cheerful and carefree with episodes of warmth. It'll be interesting to see how Twain developed Finns character in his next novel.

Literary Pick (**)

2011-01-28T19:09:00.001-05:00

Labrynth -Jorge Luis Borges

Infinities, dreams, mirrors, labrynths, immortalities, Quixote.

I purchased this book by accident. I actually meant to get any book by Mario Vargas Llosa, but when I got to the bookstore I'd forgotten Llosas' name and thought it was Borges I'd meant to get. After reading the first 3 short stories I realized this was not the same writer who'd won the nobel prize for lit in 2010. I searched online and it turns out that Borges had always wanted to win the nobel prize but was never awarded the honors, something that always irked him in his literary career. Although I'm not familiar with Llosas' or Borges' works (yet) something inside told me this was not the book I intended to read. Not that I wouldn't have eventually worked my way towards it down the road, I actually had it on my to-reads list for a while but later removed it. Perhaps because in reading some reviews I felt it was literarture I wasn't ready to tackle just yet. Anyway, one can imagine how silly I felt. I guess my gut feeling was right because this book is pretty profound. There's a certain level of enlightment that is needed to understand what Borges is talking about. I couldn't begin to explain what the first few stories were about, however, I did enjoy the Theologans, The immortal, and The Three Versions of Judas and The Wall of Books. To be honest, Borges' stories are the kind that are difficult to describe to someone else. Fortunately, prose is a sufficient enough gap-filler. Luckily for me I don't have to comprehend a story in its entirety in order to enjoy reading it. I usually fly through books, but at the suggestion of a friend I took my time with Borges. When it comes to certain works by authors of distinction like Nabakov, Homer, and Faulkner, I like to relish them at a leasurely pace. So Borges, in my opinion deserved the same respect. The question is whether or not I enjoyed reading the Labrynth.. I guess I did, to a certain extent. Borges is a man of ideas and philosophies. His stories seem to transform into studies, and you get the sense he's trying to figure things out as he goes along, and this invites the reader to form their own hypothesis. It was certainly the most challenging book I ever read and I have no regrets. I'd be interested in reading something else by Borges, more along the lines of a complete single work instead of a collection of short stories which tend to wear me out. For now I give Borges a high 2 rating.

Quote of the Day

2011-01-24T18:59:00.002-05:00

"I haven't any right to criticize books, and I don't do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.
-Letter to Joseph Twichell, 9/13/1898"
— Mark Twain

Literary Pick (**)

2011-01-23T22:07:00.004-05:00

Catch-22
Joseph Heller

By looking at the cover of the book (blue backdrop with Swastika-like little guy) I expected a serious story of espionage, or maybe something Naziesh, with a little intrigue and mystery, but instead what this book is is a bizarre comical satire of guys in the American Army. It caught me totally off guard and I had to re-adjust my frame of mind once I realized where the book was headed and what kind of story I was reading. The biggest mistake I made while reading it was to watch a clip of it on Youtube, because it's a movie I would never watch in a gazillion years since it's so stupid. Although I admit there were some funny parts in the book, it's not the type of humor I'm normally into.

The story is wacky, but Heller described all the characters well enough and it pains me to admit it was quite cleverly written. I can see why some people might like this book.

So what is this book about? it's army bureaucracy satire. Literary slapstick. It's silly comedy. Each character with their own unique problems that make up one crazy-ass regiment.

The only reason I gave this book two stars is because I laughed twice. I'm usually not one to complain about how long an author chooses to make his/her novels, but this was just ridiculous. I could have enjoyed the book more if it was half the length, and I don't mean I would have enjoyed an abridged version of it, I mean I would have appreciated it more as a work if Heller himself would have kept it at 250 max.

Photograph of the Day

2011-01-18T16:49:00.000-05:00

Salvador Dalí

Literary Pick (**)

2011-01-17T21:38:00.004-05:00

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
-Vladimir Nabokov

Considering Lolita is my favorite novel in the entire world, I expected to feel somewhat of the same magic and enchantment reading Nabokov's The Real Life Of Sebastian Knight, but I had difficulty even making out Nabokov at all. But what do I know? out of all of his novels I've only read Lolita, and now Sebastian. My mistake was that I assumed that all of Nabokov's works would seduce me. I'll have to read some more of his novels and see what happens. The tale of Sebastian Knight is appealing enough to want to finish and see what the big mystery is behind his last romance and his life, but overall it was rather dull, mostly because it felt like it was more about his brothers ego and unresolved relationship with Sebastian (his brother) than about Sebastian himself.. I have to say that I loved the way it ended. It focused more on Sebastian the way it should have from the beginning. Plus there were some brilliant sentences and passages that are worth noting.

Literary Pick (**)

2011-01-14T20:32:00.005-05:00

The Story of Art -E.H. Gombrich

Although I didn't enjoy this book as much as I would've enjoyed it a few years ago, I appreciated Gombrich's enthusiasm and excitement to share the story of art through the ages. I think what turned me off most about it was the attention given to architecture, which I understand is an enormous part of art. I'm simply not that interested in architecture. I gave it two stars not because it was ok, but because I respect it as a textbook.

Photo of the Day

2011-01-14T17:48:00.003-05:00

Picasso and Bardot

Literary Pick (**)

2011-01-13T23:37:00.004-05:00

Drown
-Junot Diaz

I didn't enjoy Drown nearly as much as I did The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The last chapter (Negocios) was more of what I expected of the whole book. I'm still glad I read it.

Literary Pick (**)

2011-01-10T21:31:00.004-05:00

Chairman Mao Would Not Be Amused

edited by Howard Goldblatt

A collection of short stories by 20 chinese writers. A genre (scar literature) that emerged after the death of Chairman Mao and the fall of the cultural revolution. The stories basically sucked. There was only one story I enjoyed and that was "The Brothers Shu".

Literary Pick (****)

2011-01-03T20:39:00.004-05:00

In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry

Amazing story about Varian Fry's heroic efforts to help many anti-fascist artists, writers, and Jews escape from France during WWII. Fry helped about two thousand refugees escape Nazi occupied France.

Shame on you, Andre Breton.

Picture of the Day

2011-01-03T20:26:00.001-05:00

Literary Pick (**)

2011-01-02T19:10:00.003-05:00

Where The Wild Things Are

-Maurice Sendak

Literary Pick (****)

2011-01-02T19:07:00.004-05:00

The Savage Detectives
-Roberto Bolano

I would have loved to have read this book in Spanish. I bet there are minute yet significant expressions and details lost in the translation that you can only experience reading it in it's original language. This novel is like the love-child of Marquez and Murakami. Maybe one day I will read it in Spanish. I think I will have to, because I enjoyed it so much.
I know readers who didn't enjoy this novel accuse it of being cliquey and haphazard, but perhaps it's because they were constantly anticipating something grand to happen, and that is exactly what Bolano meant when he referred to readers who buy into the "exotic stereotype"-style narrative. Although, I have to admit, Bolano himself falls into this trap with The Savage Detectives, with examples of ghosts, whores, and just a dab of magical realism, but I loved it all!
The story begins in a diary format, and later moves on to an interview format in which many poets are questioned about the whereabouts of Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima, later Cesaria Tinajero. Each account is like a short story. Bolano rarely writes within quotation marks, but the dialogue flows smoothly like real-time conversations and interviews. I enjoyed all of the stories. Each character had their own fascinating tale to tell and all so full of intrigue. How talented to be able to write so many short stories with so many different plots and scenarios. That takes an incredible amount of skill and talent. I even read one of the stories aloud to hear the words, and I chose a good one too, the one by Pablo Del Valle from Madrid. By coincidence that one sounded more like poetry than any of the other stories and it sounded so beautiful to hear it spoken out.
I wish Cesarias poem would've been made more clearer. I know it was suppose to be a joke, but I'm not clear on why since Cesaria was a serious and reserved character. I wasn't 100% clear on the ending but I guess Miguel and Lupe got caught by the police and when he was asking, "what's outside the window?" it meant prison cell window because he made a reference to a star. That would make a lot of sense. I'm not sure. But I loved this story. It was a long book but there wasn't a moment where I found myself bored. I could see reading it again down the road.

Favorite Passage:
"He whispered that he loved me, that he would never be able to forget me. then he got up (twenty seconds after he'd spoken , at most) and slapped my face. The sound echoed through the house. We were on the first floor, but I heard the sound of his hand (when his palm left my cheek) rise up the stairs and enter each of the rooms on the second floor, dropping down through the climbing vines and rolling like glass marbles in the yard. When I could react , I made a fist with my right hand and hit him in the face. He hardly moved. But his arm was fast enough to hit me again. Bastard, i said, faggot, coward, and I launched a clumsy attack, punching, scratching, and kicking. he didn't even try to dodge my blows. Fucking masochist".

Poetry

2010-12-18T22:35:00.001-05:00

True Love

It is true love because
I put on eyeliner and a concerto and make pungent observations about the great issues of the day
Even when there's no one here but him,
And because
I do not resent watching the Green Bay Packer
Even though I am philosophically opposed to football,
And because
When he is late for dinner and I know he must be either having an affair or lying dead in the middle of the street,
I always hope he's dead.

It's true love because
If he said quit drinking martinis but I kept drinking them and the next morning I couldn't get out of bed,
He wouldn't tell me he told me,
And because
He is willing to wear unironed undershorts
Out of respect for the fact that I am philosophically opposed to ironing,
And because
If his mother was drowning and I was drowning and he had to choose one of us to save,
He says he'd save me.

It's true love because
When he went to San Francisco on business while I had to stay home with the painters and the exterminator and the baby who was getting the chicken pox,
He understood why I hated him,
And because
When I said that playing the stock market was juvenile and irresponsible and then the stock I wouldn't let him buy went up twenty-six points,
I understood why he hated me,
And because
Despite cigarette cough, tooth decay, acid indigestion, dandruff, and other features of married life that tend to dampen the fires of passion,
We still feel something
We can call
True love.

Literary Pick (****)

2010-12-17T16:30:00.004-05:00

Che
Fidel Castro

It's a shame there aren't yet any reviews written on this book on Goodreads. It would certainly make for a very interesting discussion. The preface by Jesus Montane wasn't impressive, however, the intro written by David Deutschmann helped give the reader a quick chronological biography on the political history and contribution that Che Guevara offered the Cuban Revolution. The analysis that Castro offers on the death of Che is thoroughly fascinating. Castro defends the truth behind the murder of his beloved comrade as if he's posthumously defending his own character and honor. Technically, it's not the most sophisticated memoir. In parts Castro tends to get cyclical, but at the same time is able to make good points and does an impressive job at disproving the lies behind Barrientos' statements concerning Che's diary.

It goes without saying that this memoir plays homage to Che's revolutionary spirit and heroism. It's Castro's personal eulogy to the memory of all the virtues that embodied Che's altruistic qualities. This memoir is not only moving but inspiring as well.

Literary Pick (*****)

2010-12-15T09:43:00.004-05:00

501 Great Artists

Literary Pick (**)

2010-12-13T09:42:00.009-05:00

The Awakening
Kate Chopin

I don't understand how people call this is a feminist novel. There's a difference between feminism and selfishness. Here we have a woman, Edna Pontellier, who is married, with two children I believe, and so one day she suddenly realizes she doesn't want to be married anymore, and while her husband is away on business, and the kids are away at grandmas, she decides she's going to move out of the house and into a smaller home a couple blocks away, all nonchalant, like her husband won't mind one bit. I think she even asks her husband what he thinks about this idea..but she then to proceeds to moves out. However, before she leaves, she throws herself a going-away party at her husbands expense (not too independent if you ask me) and starts a series of affairs, one of which is with another married man in her little circle of society.. If it were the husband who had behaved this way in the novel, what do you think the reader would have thought about him? This is not acceptable behavior just because she's a woman. The only oppressive subject in this novel was the protagonist herself.
Kate Chopin is a lovely writer but this story is weak.
The other short stories included in this collection only got worse as they progressed.