Jump to content

What's The Last Book You Read?


John Crichton

Recommended Posts

On 3/13/2019 at 5:06 AM, Holko said:

MAUS, the graphic novel

 

Third read and it's just now dawned on me how meta this book is. On first read you say the main narrative of Vladek teling his son of his Holocaust experiences is a good, if not terribly original story with a neat (though seemingly just attention-grabbing) gimmick, on second read you begin to notice how the metanarrative of the son interviewing his father and going shopping and stuff deepens his character and presents him how he's become, on third read all the layers unfolded and I concluded that it's basically a complex study on how utterly impossible it it to honestly and fully represent a person, his life, experiences and personality.

 

Not a book for cat lovers I guess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Dracula by Bram Stoker

 

Pretty damn good! Some parts dragged (let's spend 3 chapters on nothing but having each character read each other's diaries, which the reader just read; that bloody Varna and steamboat at the end) but I liked its atmosphere and style. Having seen about 5 adaptations, some multiple times, elements like Mr. Swales and Mrs. Westenra enriching the theme of death were a welcome surprise - and this is probably the closest I've gotten to understanding just what the damn point of Renfield was - having a vampire (-esque?) character and xplaining or rationalising their nature while Drac is still unknown to the characters, tracking his movement and progress - and ultimately of course inviting him in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Holko said:

Dracula by Bram Stoker

 

Pretty damn good! Some parts dragged (let's spend 3 chapters on nothing but having each character read each other's diaries, which the reader just read; that bloody Varna and steamboat at the end) but I liked its atmosphere and style. Having seen about 5 adaptations, some multiple times, elements like Mr. Swales and Mrs. Westenra enriching the theme of death were a welcome surprise - and this is probably the closest I've gotten to understanding just what the damn point of Renfield was - having a vampire (-esque?) character and xplaining or rationalising their nature while Drac is still unknown to the characters, tracking his movement and progress - and ultimately of course inviting him in.

 

Van Helsing probably didn’t need to have such a heavy accent portrayed in writing though .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hehe

 

I did struggle a bit to completely understand Swales, the wolf-keeper at the zoo and the captain of the Czarina!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Just finished Harvard Composers: Walter Piston and His Students from Elliott Carter to Frederic Rzewski by Howard Pollack.

 

And I just checked out Pollack's full-on biography of Piston from the library.

 

Pollack also wrote the definitive Copland biography, which I own of course.  He's a professor at the University of Houston.  Go say hi to him for me @SteveMc ;) 

 

I'm also thinking about reading one of Piston's textbooks.  I'l probably try Harmony.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Pollack also wrote the definitive Copland biography, which I own of course.  He's a professor at the University of Houston.  Go say hi to him for me @SteveMc

Really? 

Wow, who knows, I just might drop by one of these days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Richard said:

Is it too early for my GREAT EXPECTATIONS joke?

 

That depends. Is it great?

 

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

I'm also thinking about reading one of Piston's textbooks.  I'l probably try Harmony.

 

If your primary goal is to learn more about the art of harmony, I'd recommend Kostka's Tonal harmony over Piston's book.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stu I would NOT rely on the Kostka Payne if it was the last harmony text on the planet.  That is not a very well regarded resource.  Start with Piston for academic, Schoenberg for philosophical.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, Dixon Hill said:

Stu I would NOT rely on the Kostka Payne if it was the last harmony text on the planet.  That is not a very well regarded resource.  Start with Piston for academic, Schoenberg for philosophical.

 

Yep, I knew going into the summer that a Piston textbook would be on my summer reading list.  Just checked Harmony from the library this afternoon :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Nick Parker said:

Nice! I haven't checked out a lot of threads in a while.

 

I love that such a boring-ass stick in the mud as him could create such compelling music.

 

He was a New England Republican!  Get off his lawn!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I have a guy who reads them for me.

Me too

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/28/2019 at 7:07 AM, JoeinAR said:

Do any of you re-read books. 

 

Yeah, I've read The Hobbit a couple of times and The Lord of the RIngs three times. I recently reread A Game of Thrones, and might read the next book again soon. I read King's Dark Tower series twice, and Peter Hamilton's The Abyss Beyond Dreams a second time just before reading its sequel. I just intended to browse the first chapter but continued on. I also read Arthur's C Clark's Rendezvous with Rama twice. I think that's about it. Having said that, I read about 50-70 books a year, so it's quite rare to reread one. Just remembered some more: the first three Earthsea books. I reread them when I realized there were more books in the series written quite a while after the first three. Actually, I just finished another book by the same author about 20 minutes ago, The Telling by the late Ursula K. Le Guin. And for some reason I reread Steven King's The Tommy Knockers. Thinking of reading It again as I first read maybe more than 25 years ago, and I enjoyed the movie of the first half.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quite a bit of time separated each reading. I think I first read it my early teen years and probably glazed over a lot of pages. I remember skipping the poems I think each time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I think its time to reread 11/22/63. 

Its one of my all time favorite books. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Yes, Schuman is not my personal favorite of that American era as a composer, a bit po-faced for my taste, but he was undeniably brilliant and an incredibly important figure of the 20th century.  I mean, he was President of Juilliard when John Williams was a student there!  He won the very first Pulitzer Prize for Music, plus he's one of a very select few composers (alongside huge names like Gershwin, Ellington, and Coltrane) to receive a special citation Pulitzer for his life's works.  You can't tell the story of American music without him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

71wGGa67REL.jpg

 

Hallelujah Junction by John Adams

 

Revisited this beauty and can't get over how much I love it. Adams clearly knows how to write prose. Brimming with wit and insight, this memoir sort of nails the crisis of the contemporary composer and offers a lot of fantastic insight on Ives, Riley, Glass/Reich, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Slominsky, Nancarrow, Beethoven, etc etc. And boy does he have some great stories up his belt. A must-have for any composer and music nerd.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.