396 replies to this topic

[atm711]

dirac, on Apr 20 2009, 05:58 PM, said:

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Next up for me is Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals which was sent to me by a long-time friend I met on Ballet Talk  before our daughters both became professional dancers. I've read other (smaller) books about Lincoln, but none with a focus on his "team". I'm really looking forward to it. Anyone else read this book yet?

Good to hear from you, vagansmom. I haven’t, but the book has certainly been talked about in recent months. I’d be interested to hear from any BTers reading it, as well.  

I  read the book quite a while ago--and in one word--Terrific!  In fact, she brought Lincoln to life for me and after a year of reading most of it---my bookmark is still at the assassination---unread--he was so alive in this book I could not bear to go there again.

[Ray]

I've started Brooklyn, Colm Toibin's new novel, and am just devouring it!  

Also reading Middlemarch, finally!

[kfw]

I just finished T.S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party, and now I'm rereading his Four Quartets alongside Dove Descending, a commentary by Thomas Howard.

[papeetepatrick]

kfw, on Jun 2 2009, 09:52 AM, said:

I just finished T.S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party,

Glad you mentioned that, I have got to put that down on my list immediately, since I've never given Eliot the time he deserves.

This is just as applicable for dirac's 'Reading Out of Duty' thread, and I'm very superstitious of writing what I AM reading so, like you, I prefer 'I just finished , in case I don't...So, I finally read both Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonnus, and may re-read Antigone, the only one I had read.  I had not known the order in which they were written, and that Sophocles wrote 'Oedipus at Colonnus' when he was in his 90s (wow! creative senior citizens of Ancient Greece! pretty fantastic, eh?)  I owe this to watching the movie of 'Night Journey' over and over, and was fascinated that Graham has Jocasta being directly informed by Tiresius, whereas it is Oedipus who hears it before she does in the original, and when she finds out, tries for awhile to resist the reality, which resistance you do see in the dance.  That's why it might not be quite 'reading out of duty', because without the Graham piece, I might never have completed the Theban Trilogy.

[kfw]

Patrick, if you do reread Antigone and do so in Seamus Heaney's translation (re-titled The Burial at Thebes), I'll be interested in what you think of it. I wasn't crazy about it when I saw it staged in Dublin in 2004, but my opinion may have been influenced by the lackluster production. I love his translation of Beowulf , especially as he reads it on the CD.

[dirac]

When J. Robert Oppenheimer became director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton he invited Eliot to stay, hoping Eliot would write something memorable during his time there.  Eliot, perhaps inspired by Oppenheimer’s powerful martinis, came up with The Cocktail Party, which Oppenheimer thought was awful.  It’s interesting to see Eliot using the conventions of the well-made play of the time for his own purposes but otherwise I can’t say I got much out of it.  Some may call it Alcestis, I say it’s spinach.    Four Quartets is a different kettle of fish, of course.

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Also reading Middlemarch, finally!

You’ll love it, I hope.  I think it’s a wonderful read, and for pleasure not duty.

Thanks for keeping this thread alive, everyone.

[vagansmom]

Ray, I've heard terrific things about Toibin's Brooklyn. I'm looking forward to reading it myself.

I'm just finishing A Child Called Noah by Josh Greenfield. It was published in 1972. It's mostly selections from his diary about his son who is severely autistic. But back then, the diagnosis was really unclear, and the parents were told all kinds of things about their child. Many professionals thought schizophrenia and autism were one and the same. What's so terrific about this particular book is how observant the mom and dad were, right from the outset. All the signs about this child's autism were clearly present even before the age when it's usually identified.

I'm actually reading the book because I recently read an excerpt from Greenfield's healthy son's book about his now adult brother, Noah. I realized that I owned the dad's book, but had never read it. I'll then read Karl Greenfield's book, Boy Alone: A Brother's Memoir. I have a 52 year old sister who has never been able to care for herself, so I look forward to reading Karl's perspective on his brother and to what degree he is willing to involve himself in his daily care.

Next up on my nightstand is Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, about the Plymouth Colony. Just one more week of school and then my time frees up to read with abandon.