My Porch

Something fun to look at while I work

2009-12-17T12:50:00.000-05:00

After a blissful year of only working three days a week, I am back to working five days a week. The nice thing is I like what my new job has me working on. And I like the fact that I am actually being kept busy. The bad thing is I have less time for me. Only time will tell what the impact will be on my reading and blogging.

In the meantime, enjoy one of the Christmas cards we sent out this year.

My Persephone Secret Santa and Book Review: The Home-Maker

2009-12-14T21:12:00.002-05:00

My Persephone Secret Santa
The delightful Claire over at Paperback Reader was my Persephone Secret Santa. Even before I unwrapped the package I was excited seeing that Claire was my Secret Santa because she is a voracious commenter and she and I have had some fun and informative exchanges over the past few months on both of our blogs.

My Persephone History
I am fairly new to the world of Persephone Books having only heard about them earlier this year and receiving my first order less than two months ago. My husband takes an aesthetic interest in these wonderfully beautiful books and has redubbed them Perstephones. So now it is common for both of us to add that interior “t” when referring to them.

My “Dot” System
When I first got the Persephone catalog I went through with a marker and made dots on each title according to how interested I was in each book. Five dots meant I was really interested, and those titles so marked, ended up being my first order of twelve books. Four dots meant I was pretty interested but could wait until the second round of ordering once I finished the first twelve. Three dots indicated a strong interest but it would probably be a while before I got around to buying them.

Claire’s Choice for Me
Well Claire bought me a three dot title. And having now read it, I couldn’t be happier. And it makes me hope that all my five dots are as wonderful. (Having already read Julia Strachey’s Cheerful Weather for the Wedding--a five dotter--I already know that that isn’t the case.) Being a bit of a control freak, when I signed up with Book Psmith to participate in this Persephone Secret Santa, my inclination was to give a list of titles that I wanted. But therapy seems to be working so I decided to throw caution to the wind and let my Secret Santa have an open playing field (except for the ones I already owned). I am so glad I did, because Claire’s choice was perfect.

The Home-Maker
Dorothy Canfield Fisher

First off, DON’T read too much of the catalog description of this one. Thankfully I didn’t remember anything about it so all of the plot twists were a surprise to me. I don’t think reading the catalog blurb would ruin your experience, but I do think it has unnecessary spoilers.

The Home-Maker is the story of Evangaline Knapp and her family. And let me tell you she is one uptight home-maker. Always harping on kids and husband, never happy with anything. To be honest, I identified with her quite a bit, and not in a positive way. I saw in her all of the behavioral traits that I have been trying to modify in myself (with some success I may add). Her husband Lester is a frustrated poet working in accounts at the local department store. The kids are perpetually afraid of their mother. The neighbors alternate between helpful and judgmental.

And then stuff happens. (No spoilers here.) A little bit of tragedy. A little bit of transformation. A surprise twist or two.

I loved this book because:

It had great, interesting characters. And although some are portrayed at times as heroes or antiheroes, none of the main characters are so one dimensional as to get stuck in either rut.
I love a good transformation story and this one had plenty to make me happy.
There are extended scenes about Evangeline finding her niche and being uber-organized and driven to excellence. A woman after my own heart.
It deals with some interesting gender issues that seem ahead of their time. These issues and their resolution also made me sad for the characters who had to endure 1924 gender roles that were antithetical to their happiness. It also made me a bit sad that, although things have changed greatly since 1924, there is still plenty of room for improvement. Often discussions of gender roles play out in terms of women’s roles in society, and I truly understand that women have not come close to reaching true parity with men in the workforce. But I think women today have emotional access to non-traditional gender roles in ways that men still don’t. Feel free to correct me if you think I am overstating the case, but in my experience the label “tom-boy” for a girl does not carry the same shaming sting that “sissy” carries for a boy. I have long thought that it all boils down to misogyny in any case. Traditional female roles have been so denigrated as second class or menial for so long that any male who would somehow identify with those roles or choose a “female” vocation is suspect at best and violently reviled at worst. Yes, all of this springs from this ultimately charming story written in 1924.

I hope you read it and I hope you enjoy it like I did. And thanks Claire. It might have been a long time before I got around to this one.

Sunday Painting: Sir Henry Raeburn

2009-12-13T12:03:00.000-05:00

Yesterday while I was in the process of scanning a postcard of this painting for today's post, I was browsing the blogroll on ArchitectDesign's blog when I noticed this very same image on a thumbnail for the blog The Corinthian Column. Great minds think alike. Enjoy.

Doesn't he look like he skated out of an Anthony Trollope novel?

Rev Dr Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch

Sir Henry Raeburn (Scottish, 1756-1823)

National Gallery of Scotland

I can't believe people fall for this

2009-12-13T11:54:00.001-05:00

Here are two particularly good (that is bad) scam emails that have arrived here at My Porch:

Dearest One, My name is Mr Johnson Mark, a 20 years old boy undergraduate. I am only son of Mr. and Miss. kone Mark, My father was a very wealthy Gold and Diamond Merchant in Monrovia the Gold Capital city of republic of Liberia in West Africa based in Burkina Faso west Africa, my father was poisoned to death by his business associates while my mother died when I am little and my father took me so special because I am the only child. Before the death of my father on 4th June 2007 in a hospital here in Burkina Faso he secretly called me and told me that he deposited some a huge sum of $14 million Dollars ($14, OOO, OOO USD) and the inside a bank which he deposited with a bank of Africa here in Burkina Faso as family saves. He also made me to understand that it was because of this wealth he was poisoned while on a business trip with them and he instructed me to look for a foreign partner who will help me retrieve this fund out from the bank of Africa then. On the 30th of December 2007 my uncle fly to London with his children. With all that my father left behind, just because I am a small boy and I do not have any right in my father property. My uncle seized all my father's companies and properties because of our tradition believe that I'm a small boy i don’t no anything to do with money. I was left with nothing and dropped out of school because of financial difficulties and my uncle's wicked attitude. Although I have contacted the bank of Africa they confirmed the lodgement to me My purpose of contacting you is for you to help me, as late father advised me at his sick bed.1) To transfer this amount to your location,2) To make arrangement for me to come to your country to continue my education.3) To utilize this money by investing it in good business. I am now under hidings to safe my life from any accidental harm that might befall me from them. Please tell me if you will be of assistance to me after your good considerations I am willing to reward you with 35% of the money for your good assistance. As for the money I hope you can have them for your self.. I will be glad if you will get back to me soon to tell me of your interest so that I will give you the contact information of the bank for you to contact them on my behalf as I will be introducing you. I am pleading to you with the name of Almighty God to help me out of this problem. With tiers on my eyes here as I am written you this mail. I am kindly waiting for your response MAY GODBLESS YOU, All my love, Mr Johnson Mark

Or how about this one from Mr. Buba Ouedo:

Dear friend

How are you doing with your family? Hope fine, please pay attention and understand my reason of contacting you today through this email, my name is Mr Buba Ouedo, bill and exchange manager in bank of Africa. in my department, during the auditing of this year 2009, i discovered an abounded sum of ($3.5m) three million five hundred thousand us dollars which belonging to a deceased customer of this bank he was involved on Friday December 26TH plane crash posted 11.15amest (16.15gmt)2003 at Benin .

i desperately need your assistance to secure and move this huge sums of money left behind by my late client to the tune of $3.500.000,(Three Million Five Hundred thousand us dollars) out from bank of Africa to your own account, he executed contract through department of work and housing here in this country and the mentioned money above is his money left in our bank before his death. Meanwhile, for your smoothness of this transaction, i will pay you 40% of the total sum for your co-operation in this matter. if you know that you are interested and capable to handle this business transaction,contact me as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully,
Mr Buba Ouedo.

What do you think, should I do it?

Great photo. Now if I could only remember where I found it.

2009-12-12T22:03:00.000-05:00

I came across this photo on someone's blog and loved it so much I copied it to my desktop. Problem is, I don't remember where I found it. Does it look familiar to you? Is it yours?

Book Review: Christmas Holiday

2009-12-11T16:04:00.002-05:00

Christmas Holiday
W. Somerset Maugham

Who could resist this opening line:

With a journey before him, Charley Mason’s mother was anxious that he should make a good breakfast, but he was too excited to eat. It was Christmas Eve and he was going to Paris.

If you pick this up hoping for a cozy holiday read, you could be disappointed. But it is more likely that you will end up liking the book anyway. Charley heads off to Paris to see his old school friend Simon, look at some “pictures” (i.e., paintings at the Louvre) and meet some girls. Once in Paris Charley finds out Simon has turned into a bit of power-hungry, slightly disturbing, proto-dictator with socialist ideals. Pretty promptly after dinner the two head off to a brothel where Simon introduces Charley to Lydia, a Russian prostitute who later that evening accompanies Charley to midnight mass at Saint-Eustache. (How many of you plan to spend your Christmas Eve that way?) From there the narrative turns into the retelling of the circumstances surrounding the imprisonment of Lydia’s husband for murder.

Long (but interesting) story made short, Charley spends the week not falling in love or having sex but getting to know more than he probably wanted to about Lydia’s sad life and seeing a side of life he didn’t know existed. He also finds out what a freak Simon has become. Not surprisingly Charley returns to England a changed man. But even understanding that, I wasn’t quite prepared for the impact of the final phrase of the final sentence of the book:

It was a fact he had done nothing; his father thought he had had a devil of a time and was afraid he had contracted a venereal disease, and he hadn’t even had a woman; only one thing had happened to him, it was rather curious when you come to think of it, and he didn’t just then quite know what to do about it: the bottom had fallen out of his world.

I enjoyed this book, even for what turned out to be an unplanned re-read. I was about 80 pages into it when I realized that I had actually read it before. I checked out my “Read Books” spreadsheet and sure enough, there it was: January 21, 2001. I could forgive myself because this was one of the books I picked up in a secondhand store Thanksgiving weekend. Not having my list with me, how was I to know? However, this story has an ironic twist. Close readers of My Porch will know that I started keeping my “Books Read” list in 1994 when I found myself 30 pages into a novel I had previously read. And the book that prompted me to start the list? Cakes and Ale. By whom you ask? Wait for it… W. Somerset Maugham.

Two lessons:

1) Always travel with your “Books Read” list, and;

2) Maugham is always worth a re-read.

Book Review: Official Book Club Selection

2009-12-11T15:55:00.000-05:00

Official Book Club Selection
A memoir according to Kathy Griffin

I wasn’t going to read this book. I thought it was just going to kind of rehash Kathy Griffin’s life as it is seen on her television reality show “My Life on the D-List”. Don’t get me wrong, I love the show. I just couldn’t imagine taking away time from reading other books. But then I was in a bookstore at the airport in Phoenix, and well, despite having four books with me to read, I still picked this one up, read a line or two, chuckled, and then decided I needed to have it.

(By the way, she calls the book Official Book Club Selection hoping that the reading public will think it is part of Oprah's book club, thus makinng Griffin millions.)

It you like Kathy’s show, you will like her book. Not only do you get more gossip in the book than you normally do on the show, but you also find out some interesting things about Kathy’s childhood and her 4-year marriage.

If you don’t like Kathy’s show you will want to skip this.

If you have never watched Kathy’s show, or have never even heard of her, you will only like this book if you are in the mood for a sacrilegious, gossipy tell-all with lots of foul language and fantastically base humor.

I thought it was great.

Is it May yet?

2009-12-10T17:31:00.000-05:00

The Best Way to Waste Time. Ever.

2009-12-09T09:33:00.000-05:00

Darlene over at Roses Over a Cottage Door posted a picture of a London Blue Plaque that her mate (?) made for her. Thankfully she also included the link to blueplaque.com so I could waste um...I mean spend all morning making plaques for friends--most of which can't be displayed here to protect the guilty.

So I decided to commemorate the time I spent living in London in 1992. I worked as a front desk clerk at the Sydney House Hotel in Chelsea, but I shared a room with three others and a kitchen with 27 others in the BUNAC Hostel on Store Street just off of Tottenham Court Road. It was just up the street from Senate House at the University of London and just a stone's throw from Charing Cross Road.

I have no idea who the startled businessman is.

These glasses were pretty bad, even for 1992.

I look like the character that Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) plays in Extras.

Book Review: The Brontes Went to Woolworths by Rachel Ferguson

2009-12-07T16:59:00.000-05:00

The Brontes Went to Woolworths
Rachel Ferguson

The Brontes Went to Woolworths is the rather quirky tale of the Carne family’s prodigious creativity. Despite one daughter’s attempt at being a novelist, and another’s quest to be an actress, the Carnes don’t really have much in the way of productive outlets for the output of their endlessly spinning minds. Between the four of them (mother plus three daughters) they have created a web of imaginary relationships with people they don’t really know. That is, until one day they actually get to know two of their imagined friends. Thankfully for the Carne family their quarry is interested in playing along.

The Brontes Went to Woolworths was definitely an enjoyable read, but I really think you need to be in the mood for something so whimsical it borders on nonsense. Despite some of its rather edgy subject matter (for 1931) the book feels somewhat saccharine. Like a mix of Waugh and Wodehouse but without being very clever. One could imagine a room full of Hollywood studio types turning this quirky, sweet tale into a thriller about a family of psychotics stalking a judge and his wife. In that tale someone would no doubt end up dead or in jail. No such outcome in this book.

Don’t get me wrong, there were many enjoyable moments reading The Brontes Went to Woolworths. I think I just wasn’t in the mood for that much whimsy. It is also entirely possible that I may have missed the point. It wouldn’t be the first time a meta-narrative went over my head.

For a more sensitive and substantive take on the book check out Dovegreyreader Scribbles.

Book Review: The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing

2009-12-07T16:52:00.000-05:00

The Big Clock
Kenneth Fearing

It took me a while to get into The Big Clock, but once I did, it was impossible to put down. Written in 1946 this murder mystery doesn’t keep you wondering whodunit, but it does keep you wondering who is going to get away with what.

The victim is Pauline Delos, mistress to publishing magnate Earl Janoth who is also her killer. (Janoth’s publishing empire is strikingly similar to Time Inc. during the time of Henry Luce.) It turns out someone saw Janoth with Delos right before she was murdered. Trying to stay ahead of the police investigation, Janoth’s right hand man Steve Hagan uses a false premise to put crime-magazine writer and Janoth employee George Stroud in charge of finding the unknown witness. But it turns out that Stroud himself was the witness. Fearing for his marriage, his liberty, and even his life, Stroud has no choice but to lead the investigation. Compelled to use the full resources of the company, Stroud has to stay one step ahead of the 53 employees investigating a trail that can only lead to him.

I can’t say anymore about the plot. But I will say that I really enjoyed this book. Not much of a reader of mysteries, I may not be the best judge of how this stacks up with others in the genre. On the other hand, my outsider status should give assurance to anyone similarly inclined that you don’t need to be a mystery fan to like this book.

Raymond Chandler, perhaps a bit full of himself, had this to say:

I’m still a bit puzzled as to why no one has come forward to make me look like thirty cents. But except for an occasional tour-de-force like The Big Clock, no one has.

But I will let the wonderful Nancy Pearl have the last word:

Read The Big Clock to get a feel for Kenneth Fearing as social critic, spinning out an edgy corporation-as-hell thriller.

Book Review: Utz by Bruce Chatwin

2009-12-07T16:46:00.001-05:00

Utz
Bruce Chatwin

Despite World War II and the later challenges of a repressive Communist state, Kaspar Joachim Utz has managed to collect over 1,000 pieces of Meissen porcelain and cram them into his tiny two-room flat in Prague. The novel begins with Utz’s funeral in 1974 and the tale unfolds through the recollections of the narrator who interviewed Utz once in 1967 and whose knowledge of Utz’s life is less than perfect or complete.

At the heart of the story is Utz’s decision to stay in Communist Czechoslovakia despite having the opportunity and financial means to defect to the West on his yearly state-approved pilgrimage to the healing waters of the spas in Vichy. His reticence to leave Czechoslovakia is largely based on not wanting to leave behind his collection, but he also harbors a secret and seemingly intense love for his housekeeper. The luxuries of the West also seem to Utz to have lost their attractiveness and he seems rudderless at the prospect of choosing somewhere new to live.

Switzerland? Italy? France? Three possibilities. None of them inviting. Germany? Never. The break had been final. England? Not after the Dresden raid. The United States? Impossible. The noise would depress him dreadfully. Prague, after all, was a city where you heard the snowflakes falling. Australia? He had never been attracted to the colonies. Argentina? He was too old to tango.

The more he considered the alternatives, the clearer the situation seemed to him. Not that he would be happy in Czechoslovakia. He would be harassed, menaced, insulted. He would have to grovel. He would have to agree with every word they said. He would mouth their meaningless, ungrammatical formulae. He would learn to ‘live within the lie’.

But Prague was a city that suited his melancholic temperament. A state of tranquil melancholy was all one could aspire to these days!

Interestingly, Bruce Chatwin’s book was published in 1988, the year before the start of the Velvet Revolution and the opening of Czechoslovakia’s borders. Chatwin died young (49) in 1989 and I am not sure if he lived long enough to see that happen.

I have only read one other book by Chatwin, his amazing On the Black Hill. Although Utz and On the Black Hill are worlds apart in setting, they both deal with characters who make choices that may seem restrictive and unattractive to those of us used to a large degree of self-determination. But their lives seem to retain a richness nonetheless. For those of us who are warm and well fed and have the personal and political freedom to make seemingly infinite choices, it is a little hard to understand. But it is also comforting to know that diminished or limited circumstances don’t have to mean a diminished or limited life.

I liked Utz quite a bit. But for me, if you are only going to read one book by Bruce Chatwin, make it On the Black Hill. (Recently Cornflower has been writing glowingly about On the Black Hill as well.)

Sunday Painting: Albert Marquet

2009-12-06T16:47:00.000-05:00

Since it snowed this weekend in the DC area I thought I would pay homage to the white stuff. Unfortunately, we were out of town and missed the snow, and now that we are back there isn't much in the way of remnants, so I will gaze at this scene of snowy Paris instead. Oddly enough, this particular painting of Paris lives in Melbourne, Australia which is where we saw it back in 2007.

The scan quality isn't as good as it should be for some reason.

The Pont Neuf Under Snow, late 1920s

Albert Marquet, French 1875-1947

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Book Sorting Sunday

2009-12-02T13:17:00.001-05:00

After my most recent purchases, the structural soundness of the books stacked in front of the bookshelves was in serious jeopardy. After much sorting I ended up getting rid of only about 12 books. So the end result wasn't so much a reductionn in the stacks, but merely neater, sturdier stacks. I really can't buy any more books until we find a house. We just don't have the room anymore.

Since we are off to Phoenix this weekend to visit my parents and my sister and her family I probably won't have time to blog. So knowing that many of you share my interest in gazing at piles of books, I thought I would leave you with a whole gallery. Sorry you can't see many of the titles.

The Last Book Buys of the Year (I hope)

2009-12-02T12:57:00.000-05:00

Last weekend when we were up in Doylestown, Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving I was just going to browse some used books while John and Shane were getting pedicures. It turned out the building with the used bookstore actually houses TWO used bookstores. Needless to say, I did not come out empty handed. The first pile is from Central Books, which is general purpose reading copy type secondhandbooks, the second one from Bucks County Bookshop which deals in more antiquarian and rare stock.

Rumer Godden - In This House of Brede (have never read this author)
Julian Barnes - Talking it Over (interested in more Barnes after reading Arthur and George)
Elinor Lipman - The Pursuit of Alice Thrift (I love Elinor Lipman)
Graham Greene - The Human Factor
Graham Greene - The End of the Affair
E.M. Forster - The Hill of Devi (memoir of his time in India)
J.M. Coetzee - The Master of St. Petersburg (like Coetzee a lot)
Ian McEwan - On Chesil Beach (I really love this book but I didn't own a copy)
Kate Chopin - The Awakening (about time I read this one)
E.M. Delafield - Diary of a Provincial Lady (was surprised and delighted toto find this one, heard lots about it on other blogs)

With the exception of the Haggard, these are all authors I have read and liked.

Elizabeth Bowen - The Little Girls
Wilkie Collins - The Dead Secret
Wilkie Collins - Hide and Seek
Bruce Chatwin - What Am I Doing Here
Bruce Chatwin - Utz
W. Somerset Maugham - Christmas Holiday
Muriel Spark - The Takeover
Muriel Spark - Symposium
Heinrich Boll - A Soldier's Legacy
Heinrich Boll - The Safety Net
Heinrich Boll - What's to Become of the Boy or: Something to Do with Books
Shirley Jackson - Life Among the Savages
William Haggard - The Areana (I have never run into a green Penguin crime book in the USA. So even thought it is not a genre I read, I am going to give it a whirl.)

So what do you think? Favorites? Cautions? Tips?

Book Review (well not really): The Pilgrim Hawk

2009-12-01T20:25:00.000-05:00

The Pilgrim Hawk
Glenway Wescott

This was the fourth and final novella I was to read for the November Novella Challenge. I can't quite put my finger on why, but I must say I am not a huge fan of novellas. I finished this one last night right before midnight, so I finished the challenge, but I didn't enjoy it like I thought I would. The good thing is all of the titles were in my TBR so I didn't buy anything especially for this.

Despite being a very short 108 pages, I really struggled with The Pilgrim Hawk. There is nothing I can think of to write that is even remotely enlightening or interesting. So I will let the New York Review of Books (who published this edition) stand in for my review. It doesn't mean I agree with their review, it just means I don't care enough about the book to write my own. You might be interested to note on the NYRB link that Christopher Isherwood, an author I quite like, gave it a fulsome blurb.

Out of the four I read for the challenge I liked Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea the best. Strachey's Cheeful Weather for a Wedding and Fitzgerald's Bookshop are tied for second place. Both were interesting and had their moments, but didn't necessarily satisfy. The Pilgrim Hawk comes in a distant fourth.

November Novella Challenge: 4 down, 0 to go.

7 Loves

2009-12-01T15:00:00.002-05:00

I have been tagged by Skirmish of Wit to list 7 things I love. True to my nature, I find it very hard to limit myself to just seven things. Suffice it to say I love, love, love books, food, travel, classical music, and television. But those are big, broad categories and I am tempted to list seven things for EACH of them, but that seems to defy the spirit of the challenge. So, I decided to find a few specific things that serve as examples of some of the broader themes listed above. They are in no particular order.

7 (Specific) Loves

Mutts
We can’t wait to get a dog, hopefully sometime in early 2010. And although there are some breeds that I take a shine to (like Golden Retrievers), there is nothing quite like a cute, lovable mutt. Especially one rescued from a shelter.

Pipe Organs
I get a fair amount of teasing for this one. Apparently the sound of a pipe organ is an acquired taste. But I find the sound magnificent. The variety and power of the sounds available in even smaller instruments is impressive, but when you get a really big mother going it is a sound you literally and physically feel as much as hear. And I love the way they look. The pipe cases are beautifully sculptural and architectural and they are usually in the stunning surroundings of a cathedral or a grand hall. (Passau Cathedral shown below.)

Seeing and hearing organs is often a highlight of my travels. I have collected postcards from all over the USA and Europe of organ cases. And a few years ago my husband got me the best birthday present I think I will ever receive. He arranged for me to spend an hour, one-on-one, with the organist of Washington National Cathedral at the console of the one of the largest instruments in the country, if not the world. I can’t play a note, but I do look good sitting at the console don’t you think?

Excel
In general I love to organize things. I love to sort, and throw, and donate, and stack, and line up, and tidy, and well, organize. And I love to organize data in an Excel spreadsheet. There isn’t much that doesn’t benefit from a good Excel spreadsheet. From all the books I have read since 1994, to concerts, budgets, CDs, travel arrangements, you name it.

Sissinghurst
A few summers ago when John and I were in London we spent a day at Sissinghurst, once the home of Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicholson. Between Vita’s cozy study in the tower and the amazing gardens, Sissinghurst is a little slice of heaven. Even with lots of tourists it was possible to find a quiet spot at the edge of the orchard looking across the moat to the surrounding pastures. It’s a place I could sit for hours.

Fonts and Graphic Design
I love good graphic design in general (please don't judge me by my poorly designed blog), but am particularly fond of fonts and their use in graphic design. No doubt this is tied to my love of the written word, books, letters, etc. One of the reasons I loved our visit to the Plan Museum in Antwerp in October. But I love fonts and good graphic design wherever it is, books, signs, stationary, posters, product packaging. If you haven’t been there, The Book Design Review is a great place to see some of the best and most interesting book covers out there. There is also a site called Brand New that is all about corporate branding with lots of before and after images of logo redesigns. And don’t even get me started on the brilliance of the graphic design on the London Underground. I am probably going to blog about that one of these days.

The Alcotts movement from Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata
I urge you to immerse yourself in this movement from Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata. I think this is one of the most sublime six minutes of music every written. The interpretation on this video isn’t my favorite but it still does the trick. I think she is a little too bombastic and literal with the Beethoven quotations at about 1:44 minutes, but the performance overall is pretty satisfying. There are a few commercial recordings of the sonata available. My favorite is by Canadian Marc-Andre Hamelin.

Charles Ives was an American composer (and fulltime businessman) whose output can sometimes challenge even modern ears. In his Concord Sonata he gives a movement each to American transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bronson and Louisa May Alcott, and Henry David Thoreau.

Modes of Transportation
When it comes to planes, boats, trains, and to a lesser extent, cars I turn into a 12-year old. I am particularly fascinated with fixed-rail public transport systems. I love the variety from city to city. Light rail, heavy rail. Underground, overground. Stations, platforms, and signage. It all fascinates me. On one trip to London, I took the District Line out to Wimbledon, hopped on the light rail to Croydon, then took British Rail back into town. All just for the fun of it, and to see (and ride) the new light rail line. (The tram shown is in Grenoble, not London.)

And I am one of those people who buy those airliner magazines that are like commercial jet porn. Except instead of buxom blondes or hunky guys, the centerfolds are pictures of jets taking off and landing or showing off new (or old) livery. (That’s right, the paintjob on a plane is referred to as its livery. How cool is that?)

Now I need to tag seven others. I realize you may not want to (or have the time to) participate, but if you do, let us know about your 7 Loves.

The B Files

Savidge Reads

Periodic Pearls

KyusiReader

Paperback Reader

Books and Border Collies

Stuck in a Book

Quick Intro to Upstairs Downstairs

2009-11-30T07:54:00.000-05:00

After my recent post about Upstairs Downstairs, it seemed that many of you have never seen this wonderful show, and would probably like it. So I found this clip from from the 2007 Bafta awards that gives a quick glimpse of what Upstairs Downstairs was all about. The laugh track is absolutely awful, the director/producer of the Bafta show should be ashamed. Although the show had its humorous bits, none of the clips shown here and overlaid with laugh track fall into that category. Also, based on the delivery of some of the casts' lines at the award show, they meant this whole thing to be funny. I don't know why. It's like a bad episode of Jonathan Ross--oh wait, every episode of Jonathan Ross is a bad episode of Jonathan Ross. The audio is also a bit off from the video, but despite all of this it is still worth a look.

Sunday Painting: Vincent Desiderio

2009-11-29T10:21:00.001-05:00

You really have to see this painting in person, or at least see it in larger format in a book, to fully appreciate it. When you see the detail of the art books scattered on the floor (can you spot the Vermeer pearl earring picture?) it is easy to understand why it took Desiderio ten years to complete this large canvas.

Cockaigne, 1993-2003

Vincent Desiderio (American, b. 1955)

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Book Review: My Latest Grievance

2009-11-29T10:09:00.000-05:00

My Latest Grievance
Elinor Lipman

If you are looking for interesting, smart, well-written, popular fiction Elinor Lipman is an author you need to know. Although her books tend to be quick, fun reads with likeable characters, they are by no means without substance. My Latest Grievance is narrated by Frederica Hatch, a precocious teenager who has grown up in a dormitory at a women’s college just outside of Boston, where her parents are professors and live-in houseparents. The professors Hatch have always treated their daughter like a mini-adult, so very little is kept from Frederica’s ears and she, in turn, is quick to insert herself into any conversation. The result is amusing.

The action centers on Frederica’s discovery that her father had been married before he was married to her mother and the subsequent arrival on campus of said ex-wife. Needless to say the arrival of Laura Lee causes a bit of a domestic stir in the Hatch family and sets into motion a string of events that changes everything. Despite a few tragedies, moral and otherwise, along the way, the tone of My Latest Grievance is always light and mostly humorous.

Being the third Lipman novel that I have read and thoroughly enjoyed, I feel like you could probably pick up any of her books and enjoy them. No doubt some may be better than others, but my guess is they are probably all worth a read. Especially if you are looking for something fast and fun.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T22:00:00.006-05:00

Since I will be out of blogging range for the Thanksgiving holiday, I thought I would leave you with this image of what passes in my family for an inside joke and heirloom all crocheted into one kitschy little turkey. Affectionately known as Helmut due to his helmet-like red cap, he somehow made the jump from childhood tchotchke to cherished family member. At some point when I was in college or graduate school my mother was getting rid of stuff from the basement and decided to send me Helmut as a bit of a joke. Being away from home at the holidays, I actually appreciated this vestige of past family holidays. And despite John’s good taste and keen eye for good design, he has also taken a shine to Helmut on his yearly Thanksgiving appearance.

So, happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

For those of you bored with football or shopping this long weekend (or those of you outside the US who don’t give a fig for Thanksgiving), I thought I would give a few suggestions.

On Bookish Things
You can peruse my reviews of The Year of the Flood and The Queen of the Tambourine.
Check out this fantastic classics-only bookstore/salon in San Francisco.
Read about the film Helvetica and my love of fonts.
My 2008 reading wrap-up gives a glimpse into My Porch before it turned its focus to books.
Or maybe just some cool pictures of a used bookstore in Chicago.

Travel to the Beach on My Porch
Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia a few years back.
Pacific coastline in Big Sur, California.
Pink sands of Bermuda.

Travel to the Mountains on My Porch
Whistler, British Columbia, home to the 2010 Olympics.
Grand Tetons in Jackson, Wyoming.
And, or course, the recent trip to Switzerland.

Paying Tribute to The Womenfolk
For those that haven’t seen it, you should really check out my tribute to The Womenfolk, a fabulous folk group from the 1960s. It still gets lots of page hits and it even led to an article about me in the local press.

Or what about my "Best of" series?
Best Chip Dip Ever
Best City in the USA
Best Whoopie Pie in America
Best Bar in the World
Best Book Ever

Book Review: The Year of the Flood

2009-11-24T15:55:00.007-05:00

The Year of the Flood
Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood prefers the term speculative fiction rather than science fiction to describe her latest novel The Year of the Flood (and her other works like it). Some might be hard pressed to understand the difference, but perhaps the distinction may be that Atwood speculates about the future based on our current trajectory rather than making up a new universe out of whole cloth. Although, not having read much science fiction over the years, I am not going to weigh in too much on this one. Suffice it to say that Atwood calls it speculative fiction. And she is a goddess among us so I will defer to her wishes.

All of the speculative oddities included in The Year of the Flood seem less crazy not only because one can see the roots of the idea in what is happening now, but also because Atwood is a master prose writer and draws the reader effortlessly into this world. And she doesn’t hammer these ideas home, she gently, in bits and pieces, introduces the reader to a dystopian future. Like all of Atwood’s novels, the characters are interesting and nuanced and don’t necessarily need the setting to make them so.

This story of survival in the most trying of ecological and societal circumstances is at times as whimsical as it is an overwhelmingly sad prediction of our future. A religious sect interested in bringing the biblical peaceable kingdom to fruition on earth attempts to get the lion and lamb to lay down together by genetically engineering “liobams”. The thought being that these lion/lamb hybrids would make it possible. However, as Atwood notes in the novel, the results were less than vegetarian. But this is only the tip of the iceberg (which don’t seem to exist in the future). In The Year of the Flood Atwood creates a complete world full of creatures and circumstances that are fascinating and seem entirely possible after a few chapters.

This brings me to Atwood’s other great talent/skill. In addition to her writing ability, she knows so much about so many subjects. Or at least does the research to make it seem like she does. Like other great writers she is adept at weaving in deep layers of religious, mythological, psychological, philosophical, scientific, and cultural references. She also doesn’t shy away from sex, drugs, and violence, and writes about them in a way that makes you forget that she just entered her eighth decade.

One aspect of the story I found interesting was her depiction of gender roles. Atwood’s future contains all kinds of advances in science but it doesn’t seem to include any evolution of male/female roles and attitudes. It is possible that this was a conscious choice on her part—maybe she thinks the future doesn’t look bright for gender equality. Or perhaps in this dystopian world where physical survival is paramount and weapons are hard to come by, gender roles devolve to something a little more Neanderthal. Or, maybe it is a subconscious result of Atwood’s outlook on gender which doesn’t seem to grasp that men frequent spas, and I suppose, could be stuck somewhere in time.

There is definitely an environmental message here. About global warming, genetic engineering, the promise and danger of technology, and the effects they all will have on life as we currently know it. At no time does it come across as a political tract, unless you are one of those folks who believe we can do whatever we want to the planet and not suffer any consequences. If that is you, you will hate this book. As depressing as Atwood’s future world is, it kind of helps me cope with the stress of feeling powerless to do much about the enviro-political greed and stupidity we must deal with these days. Of course it is a fatalistic kind of relief. As in, won’t the planet be a better place without us? And personally, the idea that death means donating oneself “to the matrix of life” is quite comforting to me.

Finally, some of you are going to ask if you need to read Oryx & Crake first. The answer is no. It might enhance certain aspects of the book as some of the characters do reappear, but the book is fabulous enough to stand on its own.

Other views (if you have reviewed it, let me know and I will link):
Boston Bibliophile
Shelf Love
Books - Sliced and Diced
Savidge Reads
The Mookse and the Gripes (This reviewer hated it so much I wasn't sure we read the same book.)

Book Review: The Queen of the Tambourine

2009-11-24T15:51:00.000-05:00

The Queen of the Tambourine
Jane Gardam

Even though I read this book before I read The Year of the Flood, I wrote the review of TYOTF before this one, and I don’t appear to have much steam left.

Winner of the Whitbred Prize for Best Novel of the Year, The Queen of the Tambourine is a funny and poignant book about Eliza Peabody, a housewife whose sense of reality isn’t what it should be. The entire book is written as a series of letters to her friend Joan. I don’t want to go into my love/hate relationship with epistolary novels again. Suffice it to say this one starts off very well in that regard, with each of the letters seeming very believable, but they eventually stray into pretty conventional narrative posing as letters.

I enjoyed this book, it was humorous and kind of satirical, but with the right amount of sentiment never far from center. Sympathetic and villainous characters, twists and turns, tension and resolution, etc. The whole nine yards as it were.

This is the kind of book that is good to pick up if you run across it somewhere. But, even though I enjoyed it, I wouldn’t necessarily tell someone to go hunt it down.

Sunday Painting: Hans Holbein (maybe)

2009-11-22T18:13:00.002-05:00

This striking painting is at the Mauritshuis in Den Haag, The Netherlands. This is the same museum that has the Vermeer painting that inspired the novel Girl with a Pearl Earring. It isn't a huge museum, but has plenty wonderful things to see, including really beautiful abstract painted ceiling panels over the main stair. It is one of the places you can see yourself visiting on a regular basis if given the chance.

Portrait of a Young Woman

Formerly attributed to Hans Holbein, the younger. (1497-1543)

Don't ask me who it is attributed to now.

Wow.

2009-11-22T09:58:00.000-05:00

I stayed up until 2:00 AM reading Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood. Woke up this morning at about 8:30, and grabbed it off of my nightstand as soon as I could see clearly enough to read. Didn't put it down until I finished. As I if I needed more proof of Atwood's genius. What an amazing book. I will review it sometime this week hopefully.