From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V10 #213 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Friday, May 25 2001 Volume 10 : Number 213 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: Readers Advisory ["Bachman, Michael" ] women who write [Marshall Needleman Armintor ] Re: macca etcetra [HAL ] Re: Midnight Oil [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] Re: macca etcetra ["victorian squid" ] 100% Beatles - ignore at will [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] books [grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan)] Re: books [Capuchin ] Re: 100% Beatles - ignore at will [Stephen Mahoney ] RE: Readers Advisory [Johnathan Vail ] Coens (was RE: Readers Advisory) [Miles Goosens ] RE: Readers Advisory ["Poole, R. Edward" ] eggers on your face ["Andrew D. Simchik" ] RE: Readers Advisory [Stephen Mahoney ] Re:feg reading ["ross taylor" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 18:18:32 -0400 From: "Bachman, Michael" Subject: RE: Readers Advisory Kay wrote >Miles: >As a longstanding fan of unrestrained silliness, I'll have to stick up for >THIRD ROCK, which was always a hoot and a half every time I saw it. I also >like NIGHT COURT, the Three Stooges, the surreal second season of THE JOHN >LARROQUETTE show, the absurdly digressive parts of the Coen Brothers canon >(i.e., RAISING ARIZONA and THE BIG LEBOWSKI have it all over FARGO and >MILLER'S CROSSING) All right, I need to pipe in to defend MILLER'S CROSSING. I like TBL a ton but their are too many memorable scenes and tremendous dialogue in MC to say RA and TBL have it all over MC. So take your flunky and dangle!! Michael ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 15:30:06 -0700 From: "victorian squid" Subject: Re: macca etcetra On Wed, 23 May 2001 17:37:00 ross taylor wrote: >I'd just put the Buddy Hollyish "Eat At Home" >as 1st track on a tape, so give it my vote. You know it's odd, but until you said that I'd never thought of it as Holly inspired, at all, and I'm a huge Holly fan. A light went on and I realized that all that "whoa UH oh uh oh" stuff was very Hollyish, just without the hiccups :). Apparently "Monkberry Moon Delight" was inspired by another 50s icon, Screamin' Jay Hawkins. According to Jalacy McCartney sent him a tape of the song and insisted he record his own version, since it was directly inspired by him. Hawkins was hesitant but his hilarious "muhahaha" spooky take on it is brilliant. Did you know he used to serve guests red wine from those bags they use at the hospital for infusions? ROTFL. No matter how he tries, Manson will -never- top Screamin' Jay. >As a Beatul I sometimes think Paul was the most >radical, introducing all that melody & song >craft. I would back you on that. There's a reason McCartney solo albums sound like a continuation of late Beatle musical ideas and Lennon's don't really. The harmonies that everyone loves so much were mostly Paulie's. Many of the instrumental innovations (such as the Bach trumpet on "Penny Lane") were also his ideas. >mainstream poets who've referenced it. Paul >wrote good lyrics before aliens stole his >verbal brain & he wrote Mary Had A Little Lamb. This I agree with also. Some of my favorite Beatle lyrics are Paul's. I even think he wrote a few good ones after this date, though I would agree they were much thinner on the ground. I get the biggest kick out of "Rockshow". Great vocal on that too! Wish the rest of the album were as good. Oh while we're on the subject of Maccalyrics, could someone explain to me what "Junior's Farm" is supposed to be about? It has always puzzled me. >I sympathize with your problems w/ Eudoramail, but I still enjoy using an >application named after Miss Welty and her lovely story "Why I Live at the P.O." Here's another "chick lit" recommendation, Ed :). loveonya, susan Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 17:41:25 -0500 (CDT) From: Marshall Needleman Armintor Subject: women who write Edward Poole sd: <> Djuna Barnes's _Nightwood_. It's completely insane, and if you never read it, you probably never guessed that such book could have ever been written, particularly in the 30s. The only thing like it in literature I know of is _Les Chants de Maldoror_, but it doesn't really come close. Anything else written by her is worth a look, but the aforementioned novel is the most widely available thing. Jorie Graham. Start (or stop, as well) with _The Dream of the Unified Field_; the only American poet, in my opinion, whose work is worth following...well, there's Robert Haas, too...anyway, enough superlatives, there's my recommendation. Dorothy Richardson. Highly overlooked early modernist -- her stuff is primarily available in this country on Virago. marshall np Pixies, _Come on Pilgrim_ (God knows how long it's been since I listened to this, and whatta you know, it's still pretty good.) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 16:51:40 -0600 From: HAL Subject: Re: macca etcetra victorian squid wrote: > Apparently "Monkberry Moon Delight" was inspired by another 50s icon, Screamin' > Jay Hawkins. > No > matter how he tries, Manson will -never- top Screamin' Jay. Check out Jim Jarmusch's "Mystery Train", Screamin' Jay fans. He plays a hotel desk clerk (who listens to DJ Tom Waits on the radio!) > while we're on the subject of Maccalyrics, could someone explain to me what "Junior's Farm" is supposed to be about? It has always > puzzled me. I think lyrically, Junior's Farm doesn't have a whole lot of "meaning". McCartney has confessed to a silly, surreal side to his lyric writing; he just likes the sounds of the words sometimes. Something like "Jet" would be an example of these types of Macca tunes (see "Wingspan" documentary to hear about it in Paulie's own words). /hal ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 11:13:15 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: Re: Midnight Oil > >Also - Midnight Oil. I know their two more famous albums, what do you > >think of the rest? Things to get/things to avoid? that's be Diesel and Dust and Blue Sky Mining? Other than those, I'd go for "Earth and Sun and Moon", which is smoother and very melodic and hook-filled, without losing the power of Diesel and Dust. It also contains some of the oils' most memorable songs - Truganini, My country, and the surprisingly, almost psychedelic Outbreak of Love. "10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1" is also well worth it. Very diverse, but with the obvious Oily fingerprint. The same is true of "Red sails in the sunset". There are also a couple of pretty good live albums, "Scream in blue" and "20000 Watts RSL". Basically most MO music is worthwhile, though I found "Breathe" less worthwhile, and it's put me off getting the album they've done since then. An aside - if you like Midnight Oil, you might also find it worthwhile checking out Hunters and Collectors, particularly "Human frailty', "Fate/What's a few men?" and "Cut". James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand. =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= -=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- You talk to me as if from a distance -.-=-.- And I reply with impressions chosen from another time =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-. (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 16:19:53 -0700 From: "victorian squid" Subject: Re: macca etcetra On Thu, 24 May 2001 16:51:40 HAL wrote: >he just likes the sounds of the words sometimes. Um, no offense, but I've kinda picked up on that :). For some reason I just thought "Junior's Farm" in particular was some kind of political commentary that I wasn't quite grasping. loveonya, susan Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 11:31:06 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: 100% Beatles - ignore at will "ross taylor" sez: >As a Beatul I sometimes think Paul was the most >radical, introducing all that melody & song >craft. hm. I suggest another listen to the first few albums. Most of the most inventve melodic/chordal structure was John in the early days. Have a listen to the first albums where they began to experiment with song structure and texture: "A Hard Day's Night" and "Beatles for Sale". The most inventive songs as far as structure are concerned are almost all John's: the chords of "If I fell" placed it outside anything rock had heard up to 1964, "I'm happy just to dance with you" introduced the strident augmented chord and the nervous diminsheds of "You can't do that", the unforgettable introduction to "A hard day's night", the overall structure of "No reply", the waltz rhythm of "Baby's in black" (also almost unknown in rock at that time). Paul's contributions were massive, but were for the most part more straightforward and derivative - the 12-bar blues of "Can't buy me love". He did write some stunning ballad styled love songs at that time, though: "Things we said today", "And I love her", "I'll follow the sun", and the latter did have a delightful (and at that time novel) major to minor chord shift. As to the quartet arrangements of Eleanor Rigby, the first Beatles song to use that was Yesterday, and the quartet was George Martin's idea - Paul was hesitant about it at first. As the Beatles progressed, it was as often Lennon as McCartney that took the lead in musical experimentation, but the whole argument really misses the point. The band was the perfect gestalt of talents. None of them were a quarter as good solo as they were as a unit. They all came close on occasions - Ringo's bouncy "Ringo" album; George's "All things must pass" (excluding the pointless live disk); John with "Imagine", "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band", and a handful of singles; and Paul with "Band on the run" and a few memorable tracks dotted around his other work. James James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand. =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= -=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- You talk to me as if from a distance -.-=-.- And I reply with impressions chosen from another time =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-. (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 11:36:38 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: books ah, now HERE's a thread! >Read somewhere recently a poll which classified as "voracious readers" those >who read 7 or more books a month--a figure which seemed low to me. Am I >naive or do most Fegs top this? I'm a remarkably slow reader - I'm often reading several books at a time, but it takes me weeks to finish any of them. Part of that is because I was largely put off reading by postgrad study (nothing kills the pleasure like being forced to read) >About a Boy, Nick Hornby (he of High Fidelity fame; another fine read) and don't forget Fever Pitch! current: *The doors of his face, the lamps of his mouth (Roger Zelazny) *Godel, Escher, Bach: An eternal golden braid (Douglas R Hofstadter) *The chess mysteries of Sherlock Holmes (Raymond Smullyan) *Poems of Heaven and Hell from ancient Mesopotamia (trans: N.K.Sanders) *Women artists and the surrealist movement (Whitney Chadwick) *Brunel's Britain (Derrick Beckett) not enough fiction in that lot. recently finished: *Night of the Cooters (Howard Waldrup) - brilliant, tongue-in-cheek science fiction. *The secret sin of Septimus Brope (Saki) - a small collection of Saki's short stories. How come people rave about Wodehouse but forget Saki? Must get more! * The last day (Glenn Kleier) - political thriller/mildly science fictional. One of those books that you cannot put down - zips along at a helluva pace. The ending was a bit of a let down, though. James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand. =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= -=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- You talk to me as if from a distance -.-=-.- And I reply with impressions chosen from another time =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-. (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 18:09:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Capuchin Subject: Re: books On Fri, 25 May 2001, James Dignan wrote: > ah, now HERE's a thread! Yes, it is one! > I'm a remarkably slow reader - I'm often reading several books at a time, > but it takes me weeks to finish any of them. Part of that is because I was > largely put off reading by postgrad study (nothing kills the pleasure like > being forced to read) Phew! I am SO glad to hear that someone I consider to be smart and interesting is also a very slow reader. However, my problem is probably a bit different from yours, James. I'm actually a slow reader. I mean to say, I take longer than most folks to get through a page. I read lots of things and much of my time is spent reading, but it takes me forever to get through a fat book. For my technical book dollar, you simply cannot beat O'Reilly nutshell books. I highly recommend Programming Perl (the camel book)... even for people who have no interest in learning an extremely high level scripting language. It's funny, insightful, and well written. And no book at all has ever captured the art of system administration as well as Essential System Administration (the armadillo book). As for fiction, I've stated it all before and it's already on the fegbooks page. Katherine Dunne's Geek Love is what literature is supposed to be. It's the finest novel I've ever read bar none. I really liked several of Peter Carrey's books, but others I simply couldn't enjoy at all. Bliss and The Tax Inspector are the big standouts for me. You can keep Oscar and Lucinda. Um... I have to run. I probably shouldn't have even started this reply, but I know if I put it off, it'll never get finished. J. - -- _______________________________________________ Capuchin capuchin@bitmine.net Jeme A Brelin ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 17:55:30 -0700 (PDT) From: Stephen Mahoney Subject: Re: 100% Beatles - ignore at will no reply I'll follow the sun babys in black mr. moonlight those are great tunes indeed!!!! arent these from the album beatles '65 ( well at least thats what the title of my older sisters lp was where she drew a circle around each image of paul!) - -mahoney On Fri, 25 May 2001, James Dignan wrote: > "ross taylor" sez: > >As a Beatul I sometimes think Paul was the most > >radical, introducing all that melody & song > >craft. > > hm. I suggest another listen to the first few albums. Most of the most > inventve melodic/chordal structure was John in the early days. Have a > listen to the first albums where they began to experiment with song > structure and texture: "A Hard Day's Night" and "Beatles for Sale". The > most inventive songs as far as structure are concerned are almost all > John's: the chords of "If I fell" placed it outside anything rock had heard > up to 1964, "I'm happy just to dance with you" introduced the strident > augmented chord and the nervous diminsheds of "You can't do that", the > unforgettable introduction to "A hard day's night", the overall structure > of "No reply", the waltz rhythm of "Baby's in black" (also almost unknown > in rock at that time). Paul's contributions were massive, but were for the > most part more straightforward and derivative - the 12-bar blues of "Can't > buy me love". He did write some stunning ballad styled love songs at that > time, though: "Things we said today", "And I love her", "I'll follow the > sun", and the latter did have a delightful (and at that time novel) major > to minor chord shift. > > As to the quartet arrangements of Eleanor Rigby, the first Beatles song to > use that was Yesterday, and the quartet was George Martin's idea - Paul was > hesitant about it at first. > As the Beatles progressed, it was as often Lennon as McCartney that took > the lead in musical experimentation, but the whole argument really misses > the point. The band was the perfect gestalt of talents. None of them were a > quarter as good solo as they were as a unit. They all came close on > occasions - Ringo's bouncy "Ringo" album; George's "All things must pass" > (excluding the pointless live disk); John with "Imagine", "John > Lennon/Plastic Ono Band", and a handful of singles; and Paul with "Band on > the run" and a few memorable tracks dotted around his other work. > > James > > > James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand. =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= > -=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- > .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- You talk to me as if from a distance > -.-=-.- And I reply with impressions chosen from another time > =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-. (Brian Eno - "By this River") > Gallons by which daily U.S. oil consumption would drop if SUVs average fuel efficiency increased by 3 mpg : 49,000,000 Source: Sierra Club (Washington) Gallons per day that the proposed drilling of Alaskas Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is projected to yield : 42,000,000 Source: The White House Stephen Mahoney Multnomah County Library at Rockwood branch clerk stephenm@nethost.multnomah.lib.or.us 503-988-5396 fax 503-988-5178 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 22:11:55 -0400 From: Johnathan Vail Subject: RE: Readers Advisory From: "Poole, R. Edward" >So guys--anyone else care to share:-)? Not necessarily recent to the world, but recent to my bedside table: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (despite self-consciously cute title, I found it to be an accurate description of the book) A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (oft-funny, always sharp essays; the title essay is one of the funniest things I've ever read) DFW is great reads. Kind of cross between Pynchon and Helprin with a shade of Vonnegut if that makes sense. "Girl with the Curious Hair" and of course _Infinte_Jest_. I lost the original thread? Was it music based reads? I would add Nick Cave's _And_the_Ass_Saw_the_Angel_. Really bizarre and twisted but comes from the same dark place as most Nick Cave songs (especially Henry's Dream). jv <- you know, i'd rather see this on TV. tones it down. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 22:14:40 -0400 From: Johnathan Vail Subject: RE: Readers Advisory Actually, for music related reads, does anyone have a copy of Stephen (AKA Dogbowl formerly of King Missile) Tenney's _Flan_? I love the album and would love to read the book. jv <- you can't touch the Master but you can Tickle his Creatures. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 22:23:24 -0500 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Coens (was RE: Readers Advisory) At 06:18 PM 05/24/2001 -0400, Bachman, Michael wrote: >>Miles: >>As a longstanding fan of unrestrained silliness, I'll have to stick up for >>THIRD ROCK, which was always a hoot and a half every time I saw it. I also >>like NIGHT COURT, the Three Stooges, the surreal second season of THE JOHN >>LARROQUETTE show, the absurdly digressive parts of the Coen Brothers canon >>(i.e., RAISING ARIZONA and THE BIG LEBOWSKI have it all over FARGO and >>MILLER'S CROSSING) > > All right, I need to pipe in to defend MILLER'S CROSSING. I like TBL a ton >but their are too many memorable scenes and tremendous dialogue in MC to say >RA and TBL have it all over MC. So take your flunky and dangle!! LOL! It's all a matter of context, really -- on a five-star scale, there's not a Coen Brothers movie that would garner fewer than four from me. later, Miles ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 15:34:04 +1200 From: grutness@surf4nix.com (James Dignan) Subject: Re: 100% Beatles - ignore at will >no reply >I'll follow the sun >babys in black >mr. moonlight >those are great tunes indeed!!!! >arent these from the album beatles '65 >( well at least thats what the title of my older sisters lp was >where she drew a circle around each image of paul!) yup - these werre all originally released in Britain on "Beatles for Sale" in late '64. Of them, only IFTS is predominantly Paul's composition - BIB and NR are predominantly John's, and Mr Moonlight is a cover of an R&B standard. The Beatles earlier albums were largely repackaged for America prior to about mid-'65 ("repackaged" = "butchered". The idea of deliberately programming an album in a specific order that was important, rather than just a collection of songs, was another innovation which could probably be claimed by the Beatles, and they were somewhat annoyed when their albums were repackaged in completely different order in the US). "Beatles '65" had eight of the 14 tracks from "Beatles for Sale", one from "A Hard Day's Night", a single, and a B-side. James James Dignan, Dunedin, New Zealand. =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-= -=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.- .-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=- You talk to me as if from a distance -.-=-.- And I reply with impressions chosen from another time =-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-.-=-. (Brian Eno - "By this River") ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 08:42:11 +0100 From: "Stewart C. Russell" Subject: Re: various book stuff Christopher Gross wrote: > > Does anyone else out there like Patrick O'Brian? yup. Very fine. And it's not just because we publish 'em so I can get them for 25p/US$0.40, either. I'm surprised no-one mentioned Margaret Atwood. Her earlier works (and short stories) tend to the hilarious. She's got a bit self-conscious of late, alas. The only bit of "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" worth a damn is where he's getting overexcited, and the girl cools him off with "three mini-pats, as one would give a reptile". And his paperback edition with the extra section of notes and corrections -- what was his editor thinking? Stewart ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 10:55:20 -0400 From: "Poole, R. Edward" Subject: RE: Readers Advisory Michael notes: >>Miles: ... >>the absurdly digressive parts of the Coen Brothers canon >>(i.e., RAISING ARIZONA and THE BIG LEBOWSKI have it all over FARGO and >>MILLER'S CROSSING) >All right, I need to pipe in to defend MILLER'S CROSSING. I like TBL a ton >but their are too many memorable scenes and tremendous dialogue in MC to say >RA and TBL have it all over MC. So take your flunky and dangle!! Agreed on Miller's; but if we are talking about fun and silliness, why no Hudsucker Proxy? I claim this as their neglected gem -- you know, for kids? Jennifer Jason Leigh, believing she was still doing Dorothy Parker, is the only weak point. - -ed ============================================================================This e-mail message and any attached files are confidential and are intended solely for the use of the addressee(s) named above. This communication may contain material protected by attorney-client, work product, or other privileges. If you are not the intended recipient or person responsible for delivering this confidential communication to the intended recipient, you have received this communication in error, and any review, use, dissemination, forwarding, printing, copying, or other distribution of this e-mail message and any attached files is strictly prohibited. If you have received this confidential communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail message and permanently delete the original message. To reply to our email administrator directly, send an email to postmaster@dsmo.com Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP http://www.legalinnovators.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 08:23:05 -0700 From: "Andrew D. Simchik" Subject: eggers on your face > From: "Poole, R. Edward" > > A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (despite > self-consciously cute title, I found it to be an accurate description of the > book) I worried that it would fall victim to my violent hype allergy, but I actually enjoyed parts of it an awful lot. I do strongly disagree that the title was accurate, however, but it might be me reacting to the personality of the author rather than the quality of the work. I thought the final section in particular was building up extraordinarily well and then he ruined it for me in the very last sentence or two. In short, I thought I would dislike it for the form and ended up disliking it for the content. Of course, once again I am the only person in the entire universe who dislikes this virtuoso work, so that means all fegs should read it immediately. > A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (oft-funny, > always sharp essays; the title essay is one of the funniest things I've ever > read) I couldn't get into this for precisely the same reasons, but I also didn't finish it, so maybe it got more engaging as it went along. Too many things distract me from reading these days. I have shelves full of books and after work and aikido I end up just messing around on the computer or playing pointless video games. When I was younger I used to read "voraciously" and still do by some standards. The books I have going are: CHAPTERHOUSE DUNE, Frank Herbert (of course). Extremely painful, but I have vowed to finish this damned series if it kills me. I'm planning to just pretend the Brian Herbert books don't exist. THE SPELL OF THE SORCEROR'S SKULL, John Bellairs. One of my favorite authors of "juvenile" fiction. The books are not incredibly well written or sophisticated, but the images and situations Bellairs imagined captivated me when I was younger. What a surprise to find that they're still potent today! I'm treating myself by rereading some of these. They're very quick. TITUS GROAN, Mervyn Peake. Very slow going, and I haven't decided yet how I feel about it. If I like it, I have GORMENGHAST waiting in the wings. That's pretty much it for the moment, though I have a few non-fiction titles (THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE for one) I may be starting soon. I checked out VURT at the same time as the Eggers book and couldn't get through more than 25 or so pages. Maybe it helps if you like drugs. Oh, and I have an autographed copy of THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND KLAY waiting for me to finish TITUS GROAN (or not). I've been a fan of Michael Chabon since my girlfriend insisted THE MYSTERIES OF PITTSBURGH was better than its title, and I'm so gratified by all the attention he's getting. > Wow. It strikes me that there are no women on there. This is unintentional > and a bit surprising. What chicklit should I have been reading? (note to > the easily offended: "chicklit" is (a) a joke (b) in reference to the fine > website (http://www.chicklit.com/) of the same name). I'm a big Margaret Atwood fan, but I thought her latest novel was pretty much of a retread. The pulp science fiction bits seemed a bit contrived. > From: The Great Quail > > 1. "Motherless Brooklyn." I loved Lethem's novels but his short story collection left me cold. Which does this resemble more? - -- Andrew D. Simchik, drew at stormgreen dot com http://www.stormgreen.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 09:11:30 -0700 (PDT) From: Stephen Mahoney Subject: RE: Readers Advisory Has anyone read Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee? Only finished the first chapter but it has pulled me in... its about a professor who is questioning his life while obsessing over sex and writing a paper on Byron's life in Italy... set in Capetown U. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 12:27:32 -0400 From: "ross taylor" Subject: Re:feg reading I think I'm a bit dislexic (I'm a lefty) & I read slowly, practically voicing words as I go. Maybe that's why I like poetry--fewer words per page. Like Kay I read more than one book at once. I also like listening to books on tape while walking or on Metro. Once I was listening to Wm. Gibson's "Virtual Light" on a crowded train, and to avoid staring at a very large butt right before my face, I opened a book of e.e. cummings poetry I was carrying & pretended to read that. The Gibson was spare, direct language & narrated slowly. I found I could make good headway in both books at once--they even went well together. I'm just finishing Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf--beautiful language, & fun to see where half the sci-fi monster films I've seen must have come from. I'm also reading "I Gathered My Ear From the Green Field," poetry & collage by Celestine Frost. Very surreal/avant-guard, but also pretty and emotional. I'm reading Pullman's "The Subtle Knife" with my daughter--she's read it 2 or 3 times already but I think likes seeing my reactions. I'm also in the process of doing a "Greatest Hits of Ray Bradbury" for her. I just went back thru a friend's poetry manuscript, "Feeding the Fire" by Jeff Harrison, (will come out from Saraband Books in the fall), so I could talk to him about it. (He had a poem featured on Poetry Daily, www.poems.com, yesterday). He's a formalist, counts the syllables in his lines, I'm not, but he took me to lots of Dead concerts and he uses very musical language. I have on order from Amazon "Catastrophe," a collection of stories by Dino Buzzati. He's very feg relevant, an Italian writer from the 40s thru 70s who wrote mostly stories--fantasy, sci-fi, and wierd Dick/Borges/Night Gallery parables. His novel, "The Tartar Steppe" is about people at a fort who expect an invasion and nothing happens--but happens in a spooky, sad, very weird way, w/ touches of Beckett. I think a lot of the weirdness he wrote about was Fascism. And finally, a couple of years ago, but very feggish, "The Roaches Have No King" by Daniel Weiss. You see the guy who lives in this apartment has a nice, messy, hippie girlfriend but she leaves and his next girlfriend is a neat freak and this is like the end of the world for the protagonist, a roach. So the roach & his buddies/family etc. try to get rid of the neat girlfriend. Sometimes it gets a little heavy on the postmodern stylings but there's a screaming funny Julia Child joke and it's all just as sad as life is and there's a gross journey down a toilet just like in Gravity's Rainbow or Train Spotting. Thanks, She.Rex! Ross Taylor Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V10 #213 ********************************