D.E.A.R. Fridays!
Remember in grammar school when your teacher had DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) Fridays? I’m reinstating it.Actually, only this Friday. I’m not trying to be NYT-centric, but they posted their?Top 10 Books of 2007?and it seemed right to draw your attention to it. I’ve been consumed with academic readings, and am looking forward to my graduation if only for the extra personal reading time I’ll get. First on my list is “Then We Came to the End” by Josh Ferris. Lots of glowing reviews and a?National Book Award mention?to boot!?I’m also looking forward to reading “A Circle is a Balloon and Compass Both” by Ben Greenman ? which is finally in paperback. A collection of stories about love and loss. Maybe not the most original topics ? but I’m still putting it on my Amazon wishlist.
NYTimes: Have a seizure, on the house!
The Times wants you to start seizing in the name of art: Just click here!
In all fairness, the short is pretty cool. I watched it in the computer lab instead of making a study guide.
Also, let it be known that I, the lover of all coffee tables books, would really like this one . Lights and lamps and a big book ? every guest would love that.
Heady tunes
A very intellectual European friend of mine just emailed me about a book she’s excited to read, and I’m quite excited about it, too. Musicophilia is Oliver Sacks’s latest look into how our brain works, focused on where and how music affects our brain. London Times reviewer Bryan Appleyard caught my attention right about here:
We all know people who ?live in? music. These are not necessarily music lovers or professional musicians. Most people can be deeply moved by music. But there are some people for whom anything that is not music is a distraction from the real business of their lives. They may not say it, they may not even know it, but you can recognise them by their expressions when music starts to play or the subject of music comes up. That?s what matters, they?re thinking, that?s all that matters.
I know loads of people like this. Heaps of ‘em. Not just casual listeners, but people who literally hear music differently than I do. To understand them would be reason enough to pick up the book, but just wait! Sacks was on NPR last week, and you can read an excerpt of the book there and here. So read on, Brinksters, read on.
The best minds of my generation: Destroyed by dirty words
Anyone who knows the current author of Brink knows that she’s a big ol’ fan of the Beat generation. And not just because she has a crush on Jack Kerouac, and not just because it’s her own personal fantasy to yell “DIG THIS!” at Charlie Parker while slugging wine with Neal Cassidy. No, not just those. She loves the literature, too.
In any event, 50 years ago yesterday, Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” was deemed non-obscene. Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote a wonderful piece about its cultural importance, which he read at the trial and can be found in Ann Charter’s “Portable Beat Reader,” if you have a couple extra bucks. Well, despite everyone’s love of the poem, Pacifica Radio ? the PUBLIC STATION ? thought it was dangerous to broadcast. So they did it online. Um, what? We’re here celebrating the day that this poem was freed from public scrutiny, that is, that everyone decided it was allowed to be disseminated to the public for its cultural significance, and 50 years later it’s suddenly too much for us all to bear?
“Businessmen are serious. Movie
producers are serious. Everybody’s serious but me.
It occurs to me that I am America.
I am talking to myself again.”
Keep on fighting the good fight, sons and daughters of the Beats. Brink’ll keep reading.
Reading is FUNdamental
Not too long ago a literate friend of mine invited me to post a profile on Goodreads.com, a site that allows you to share book recommendations with friends. And though my profile is a work in progress, UrbanJunkies London reminded me today of its existence, and I figured it’s always good to plug something that directs people’s eyes away from American Idol (though we will miss the ponyhawk).
Users can rate books and write reviews. It’s kind of like having a del.icio.us account, only instead of sharing your favorite Web sites, you’re sharing some of your favorite books. Now you’ll never be without a good reading recommendation.
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