A podcast about books, art & life — not necessarily in that order
Ahoy, ahoy, dear readers! I’m way too busy reading pharmaco financials and analyst reports to spend much time blogging. Updates will be pretty light until July 4thish. (Of course there’ll be an Unrequired Reading this Friday! Don’t be silly!)
Just so you get your fix, the 0-fer of the week is . . . Ezra Pound!
Now I gotta get back to work. Later!
Because I’m not some commie pinko, I don’t listen to NPR. So I don’t know if Dick Meyer has worthwhile literary opinions or not. What I do know is that he posted this list of his top English-language novels written last century.
He organized the list in terms of “how much the book hit me, moved me, made me see — and how it stuck with me.” He listed Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man at #1, and History of Love by Nicole Krauss (0-fer!) at #100.
I, on the other hand, reorganized his list in terms of whether I’ve read ’em, whether I’ve at least read something by the author, and whether they’re on my 0-fer list.
Since some authors have multiple books on his list, the 0-fer numbers won’t add up to 100, but hey:
I’ve read 32 of the books on his list, at least something by 12 other authors, and my 0-fer list is a remarkable 50 titles! (but only 45 authors, because of dupes)
Wanna see what’s what? Just click “more”!
Continue reading “0-fer 20th century edition”
This NYTimes article on Book Expo America was pretty funny. On the one hand, e-books on the Amazon Kindle are ridiculed by Tina Brown for costing “that paltry, pitiful sum” of $9.99.
On the other hand, Sherman Alexie is a complete douchebag:
At a panel of authors speaking mainly to independent booksellers, Sherman Alexie, the National Book Award-winning author of “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,†said he refused to allow his novels to be made available in digital form. He called the expensive reading devices “elitist†and declared that when he saw a woman sitting on the plane with a Kindle on his flight to New York, “I wanted to hit her.â€
First thing: a quick Amazon search shows that several of Alexie’s books are available in Kindle editions.
Second thing: he is, to reiterate, a complete douchebag and I’m glad to say I’ve never read a word of his writing.
I refuse to read this article by Richard Ford on the genesis of his character Frank Bascombe . . . because I’ve never read a word of Ford’s stuff! Congrats on being my latest 0-fer!
Someone told me that I should read The Sportswriter
Memorial day weekend! I may be filled with sadness, guilt, rage and oversolicitousness because of my dog’s grievous wounds, but that’s no reason you shouldn’t have some links to get you through the weekend. Just click “more”!
Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: May 22, 2009”
In honor of our mini-vacation to Toronto, this week’s literary 0-fer is . . . Margaret Atwood! She was born in Ottawa, but it looks like her formative years were spent in Toronto and I’ve never read a word she’s written!
And I have read some work by Robertson Davies (I think just Fifth Business
In honor of “Drink Corona (or whatever Mexican beer you choose) Day,” I thought I’d go find some well-regarded Mexican authors whom I’ve never read a word of. Only having thought up this idea this morning, I decided to dive into the “canonical appendixes” of Harold Bloom’s Western Canon
Except for Latin America, which is lumped together. So I had to spend a few minutes checking out the nationality of all the authors he listed, only to discover that he only has two Mexican authors on his list and I’ve actually read a book by one of them (Aura
Bloom’s list did manage to yield a Mexican 0-fer author for me: Octavio Paz.
For the sake of bulking up this post, here’s the full list of Bloom’s canonical authors of Latin America (in the sequence he lists them), with 0-fer annotations:
, but didn’t get far.
and some short storiesLooks like Bloom really digs Cuban writers, huh? Now go get messed up on Tecate!
Evidently, this year’s Pulitzer Awards come out soon. In fact, they may’ve been awarded already. I’m not really sure, because I don’t give a crap about awards.
But, so, hey, I came across a link to this AbeBooks list of the Top 10 Forgotten Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novels, and guess what?
I haven’t read a single book on this list! In fact, I haven’t read any other work by any of the authors on the list, except for one!
That would be Steven Millhauser, because David Gates recommended one of his books to me. This recommendation was from our first conversation a dozen years ago, and I realize now that I never actually read more than a couple pages of that book, although it looked promising.
It’s Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer 1943-1954 by Jeffrey Cartwright
I’ve read several books (and one really bad article) by his son before, but this week’s literary 0-fer is . . . Kingsley Amis, CBE!
I plan on correcting that 0-fer later this year when I delve into his Everyday Drinking
Any of you have any experience with the elder Amis?
This isn’t a true 0-fer this week, but it does point out my literary failings, which is what I’m all about.
Last night, it occurred to me that the number of ballparks I’ve visited may be greater than the number of Shakespeare plays I’ve read. I checked out both lists this morning and I’m glad to report that’s not the case:
Ballparks I’ve attended:
Shakespeare plays I’ve read:
I’ll probably see a Braves game when I’m in Atlanta next month, but I also just began reading Antony and Cleopatra, so the deficit will remain at 5. Unless I go on a real Shakespeare binge (which is possible) or get fired and decide to go on that “8 parks in 10 days” tour of midwestern ballparks I plotted out back in 2002 (which is very unlikely (I hope)).
Howzabout you, dear readers? Any of you read fewer plays of Shakespeare than the number of MLB ballparks you’ve visited?
Bonus! NBA arenas I’ve attended: