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« Reply #425 on: August 06, 2017, 04:57:27 AM »

Edgar Allan Poe "The Masque Of The Red Death" & "Berenice" - both inspired by great CBS Radio Mystery Theater plays. "The Masque" - 3.5/5, "Berenice" - 3/5.
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« Reply #426 on: August 09, 2017, 10:43:05 AM »

Edgar Allan Poe "The Masque Of The Red Death" & "Berenice" - both inspired by great CBS Radio Mystery Theater plays. "The Masque" - 3.5/5, "Berenice" - 3/5.
No, actually it was the other way around. The story inspired the CBS Radio Play.
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« Reply #427 on: August 22, 2017, 05:16:19 PM »

Again, listened to CBS Mystery Theater; this time they adapted Mark Twain which inspired me again to go read the real deal. "The Stolen White Elephant" - 3.5, "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg" - 4.5.
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« Reply #428 on: September 02, 2017, 02:33:18 AM »

I finished Mike's book today. And I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It took me a while to get started, though (gosh darn reader's block playing up again). After it had lain on the shelf for months, I read the index and acknowledgements and then started at the beginning. After grinding to a halt after 30 pages, I put it back for several more months. Then I took the plunge and started in the middle, at a chapter called "The Unraveling" and read on quite quickly to the end. Last came the bit in between----which I finished last night.

Kudos, Mike, it was a great read!
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« Reply #429 on: September 05, 2017, 10:29:00 AM »

At present I'm reading The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes. Or rather I read the first third of it in a two-hour burst. (See the link below for a potted description of the novel.) Curiously, in the interval of a BBC Prom concert that ended with Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, the author read a passage from that book that I had read only a few hours earlier----and the book had been lying on my bedside table for months. The passage in question begins on my page 49 ("On the Saturday night, and again on the Sunday night, he drank himself to sleep.") and ends at the chapter's conclusion on my page 58 ("They called his Fifth 'an optimistic tragedy'.") This is seriously recommended to anyone interested in the nightmare that was Stalin's Great Terror.



https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/17/the-noise-of-time-julian-barnes-review-dmitri-shostakovich
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« Reply #430 on: September 05, 2017, 03:23:36 PM »

Thanks for the recommendation.
I have the Great Courses lectures on classical music, and was just listening to a lecture about Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, the Symphony that "saved his life."
His earlier opera didn't go over very well with the top brass. If I knew that Stalin was going to attend one of my compositions I would have made sure to wear a nappie (diaper)! After having to put aside his Fourth, the Fifth was his last shot to, er, not be shot?
The West didn't take too kindly to the Fifth. Shostakovich said that only Russians could truly understand where he was coming from.
Usually when I listen to a classical work I interpret it my way. Will listen to the Fifth and see if I can "get it."

As to what I've been reading, believe it or not, I have only now read Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl (revised edition).
Don't know how I didn't see her house during the two times in Amsterdam (1978 and 1989).
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« Reply #431 on: September 07, 2017, 03:39:43 PM »

I'm about 40 pages into Yuri Olesha's short novel "Envy," and I've been laughing out loud pretty much the whole time. It's hilarious! I bought a cheap copy last weekend on a whim, it just jumped out at me.
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« Reply #432 on: October 09, 2017, 04:15:39 PM »

"The Shunned House" by H. P. Lovecraft - 5/5.
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« Reply #433 on: October 10, 2017, 02:40:27 AM »

"The Shunned House" by H. P. Lovecraft - 5/5.

Lovecraft! In the early '70s I read some short stories by him that scared the living sh*t out of me. I may return to him one day, as they were fantastically well-written.

Last night I decided to make Testimony my bedtime read (see link). I'd read it before but couldn't remember much about it, except that it was controversial. I assumed there'd be nothing to laugh about in a book mainly about the Stalin era (I don't want to wake my wife up, you see). Little did I realize. It only took a few pages. Humour evidently was a major weapon against going nuts during those years. I'll look for another book tonight...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testimony_(book)
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« Reply #434 on: October 10, 2017, 04:12:14 AM »

Lovecraft! In the early '70s I read some short stories by him that scared the living manure out of me. I may return to him one day, as they were fantastically well-written.
Halloween soon. :D

Re: Stalin era, did you read "The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn?
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« Reply #435 on: October 10, 2017, 09:55:43 AM »

Lovecraft! In the early '70s I read some short stories by him that scared the living manure out of me. I may return to him one day, as they were fantastically well-written.

Re: Stalin era, did you read "The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn?

The living manure----I like that!  LOL

I read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich many years ago and enjoyed it, despite the horrific subject matter. I'm afraid the idea of reading a book as weighty as The Gulag Archipelago is too daunting at this stage of the game. Maybe in a another life.
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« Reply #436 on: October 12, 2017, 04:10:54 PM »

Just finished The Noise of Time. Fascinating book but unrelentingly depressing with no let up.
Reminded me of Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road. No hope...

Am presently reading A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, about a Russian who is sentenced after the Revolution to life long house arrest at a hotel.  Great book that immerses you in that time. Has some happy moments but a lot more sad ones.

Will have to find a book that’s funny. Seems like just about all of my books are downers!
Suggestions would be appreciated.
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« Reply #437 on: October 13, 2017, 02:35:17 AM »

Just finished The Noise of Time. Fascinating book but unrelentingly depressing with no let up.
Reminded me of Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road. No hope...

Am presently reading A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, about a Russian who is sentenced after the Revolution to life long house arrest at a hotel.  Great book that immerses you in that time. Has some happy moments but a lot more sad ones.

Will have to find a book that’s funny. Seems like just about all of my books are downers!
Suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi, Elizabeth. Maybe the captain can help you choose (although of course senses of humour differ):

I'm about 40 pages into Yuri Olesha's short novel "Envy," and I've been laughing out loud pretty much the whole time. It's hilarious! I bought a cheap copy last weekend on a whim, it just jumped out at me.

I see Olesha wrote Envy in 1927.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yury_Olesha
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« Reply #438 on: October 20, 2017, 07:06:58 PM »

I believe manure is polite way to say the s-word (e.g. "People walked past some chap taking manure in the forest"). About funny books - read Spike Milligan (plus check his "The Goon Show").
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« Reply #439 on: October 21, 2017, 01:14:42 PM »

I believe manure is polite way to say the s-word (e.g. "People walked past some chap taking manure in the forest"). About funny books - read Spike Milligan (plus check his "The Goon Show").

H'mm. "Taking manure" means the chap is collecting it rather than producing it. "Making manure" would be a better phrase. As in "People walked past some chap making manure in the forest".  LOL

Love that word "manure"! Good call, RR.

Yes, Spike Milligan is great. I've read a lot of his stuff. He did a lot of TV too (the bit you want is at 1:52):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTcRxIgPvx0

 
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« Reply #440 on: October 25, 2017, 06:47:19 AM »

What am I reading?



Mainly for the libretto----and to check out the magnificent orchestration.

Don't worry, I can't hear the whole thing from reading it.  Grin
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« Reply #441 on: November 18, 2017, 05:39:28 AM »

H'mm. "Taking manure" means the chap is collecting it rather than producing it. "Making manure" would be a better phrase. As in "People walked past some chap making manure in the forest".  LOL

Love that word "manure"! Good call, RR.

Yes, Spike Milligan is great. I've read a lot of his stuff. He did a lot of TV too (the bit you want is at 1:52):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTcRxIgPvx0
I figured you can say "take manure" since there is phrase "take the dump". Yep, Spike is hilarious. Today's read - Tom Waits' answers to Vanity Fair Proust questionnaire: http://tomwaitslibrary.info/interviews/04-octnov-vanityfair.html

Some funny witty answers: "What is your favourite journey? - Actually, I don't own any of their records". "What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? - The floor just below that". "Which talent would you most like to have? - Being able to fix the truck". "What is your most marked characteristic? - My ability to discuss, in depth, a book I've never read". "What do you most value in your friends? - Jumper cables and a tow chain". "Which words or phrases do you most overuse? - Do as I say and no one will get hurt".
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« Reply #442 on: November 18, 2017, 08:05:31 AM »

Some funny witty answers: "What is your favourite journey? - Actually, I don't own any of their records". "What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? - The floor just below that". "Which talent would you most like to have? - Being able to fix the truck". "What is your most marked characteristic? - My ability to discuss, in depth, a book I've never read". "What do you most value in your friends? - Jumper cables and a tow chain". "Which words or phrases do you most overuse? - Do as I say and no one will get hurt".

These are funny LOL.
I can relate to the “ability to discuss, in depth, a book I’ve never read”. In college for the upper level courses the tests would include essay questions. Sometimes I didn’t know the answer but learned that on occasion I could throw in some catch phrases or other such creative nonsense and get at least partial credit for the answer.
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 "The best thing you can be 'like' in music is yourself." Dr. John
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« Reply #443 on: November 18, 2017, 12:23:37 PM »

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« Reply #444 on: November 18, 2017, 03:55:12 PM »

I love that book - read it when it first came out, and plan to take the time to read again. So much info!
Only thing I didn’t like - it goes through 1963, then stops. Doesn’t go one second into 1964. I wanted more LOL
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"No White Flags." - Team Gleason

"(Brian) got into this really touching music with songs like 'In My Room', and 'Good Vibrations' was amazing. The melodies are so beautiful, almost perfect. I began to realize he was one of the most gifted writers of our generation." - Paul Simon

 "The best thing you can be 'like' in music is yourself." Dr. John
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« Reply #445 on: November 19, 2017, 12:24:18 PM »

Only thing I didn’t like - it goes through 1963, then stops. Doesn’t go one second into 1964. I wanted more LOL

That's where the "becoming" bit comes in, E. It has to stop somewhere. But what a read for those three years! ;=)
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« Reply #446 on: November 19, 2017, 02:40:54 PM »

It’s so well written. I’d love such detail for 1964 (and beyond).

I checked a newsletter for a local bookstore. They had a book club meeting last week, and the monthly book selection was - The Noise of Time! Argh! Oh well.

Am presently re-reading Dylan’s Chronicles Volume One.
After that will be the Battle of the Band. Reading Robbie Robertson’s Testimony and Levon Helm’s This Wheel’s on Fire.
Should be interesting.
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"(Brian) got into this really touching music with songs like 'In My Room', and 'Good Vibrations' was amazing. The melodies are so beautiful, almost perfect. I began to realize he was one of the most gifted writers of our generation." - Paul Simon

 "The best thing you can be 'like' in music is yourself." Dr. John
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« Reply #447 on: November 20, 2017, 01:54:16 AM »

After that will be the Battle of the Band. Reading Robbie Robertson’s Testimony and Levon Helm’s This Wheel’s on Fire.
Should be interesting.

Levon's book is certainly interesting! I haven't read Robbie's.
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« Reply #448 on: November 21, 2017, 10:49:42 AM »

I just finished reading Dennis Dunaway's (Alice Cooper Group) book.  It was very entertaining, and sad at times (like how Alice Cooper sort of broke up the Alice Cooper Group without telling anybody). 

I have to give Dennis credit.  If he really wanted to, he could've thrown Alice under the bus for throwing away that great band in their prime, but he's got a pretty good outlook.  It probably doesn't hurt that Dennis occasionally performs and records with the surviving members of the original band. 
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« Reply #449 on: November 22, 2017, 05:18:45 PM »

This year for Literature classes, I’ve had to read Cat On A Hot Tin Roof by Arthur Miller, My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin, Agamemnon by Aeschylus, and Dark Roots by Cate Kennedy. Overall, I was most impressed by the Miles Franklin book - one gets the sense that the author was born in the wrong period and would have been more at home in the 21st Century rather than in the 1890s. Anyway, currently reading The Great Gatsby, which I had wanted to read for a while
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