READIN

Wednesday, July 18th, 2007

Ka's tendency to narrate his subjunctive conversations with other characters is a bit disconcerting. I recognize my own behavior in it; but I also find that it dehumanizes the characters Ka is interacting with and makes him appear narcissistic -- so I am reading it as a criticism of me. And I guess also as a self-criticism on Pamuk's part.

posted afternoon of July 18th, 2007: Respond
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🦋 Some quotes from Snow

Those lines I was looking for yesterday, from the first two pages:

If he hadn't been so tired, if he'd paid a bit more attention to the snowflakes swirling out of the sky like feathers, he might have realized that he was traveling straight into a blizzard; he might have seen at the start that he was setting out on a journey that would change his life forever and chosen to turn back.

But the thought didn't even cross his mind.

Chapter 3 opens with a description of what has led Ka to make this journey, which makes it sound sort of like a search for "the real Turkey" -- I was extrapolating to my own experience to think, it sounds a little like if I, beset by mid-life depression, made a trip to (say) Kentucky looking for the real America, which America is completely alien to me. More extrapolation: Ka's fear of fundamentalist Islam is like my fear of fundamentalist Christianity and what it's doing to America. But, I don't want to commit to this reading yet, I don't know that it's going to be at all useful in understanding the book.

Ka's blurted confession in Chapter 4 has me loving him. It is the first point where he is fully human.

Snarkout tells me, "The Ka/Kars thing will not get less irritating,although it's a pun in Turkish; Kars is a real city in northeast Turkey, 'kar' is 'snow', so snow is what lies between Ka and Kars."

posted morning of July 18th, 2007: 2 responses
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Tuesday, July 17th, 2007

🦋 Changing horses midstream

I like Been Down So Long, It Looks Like Up To Me. But, it is seeming like it doesn't really hold anything new for me. So I've put it on the shelf for some time in the future when I feel like a comforting bit of psychedeliana.

In its stead I have picked up Orhan Pamuk's Snow, which Dr. Snarkout was recommending to me. I read the first 40 pages or so a while back in the library; picking it up this morning my eyes leapt to the second page, and the lines (which I don't have the book to hand now to quote, but to the effect of): "He was tired and did not look up to see the snow coming down. If he had, and had noticed that he was heading into a blizzard, he might have turned back. But the thought did not even cross his mind." I'll look up the precise wording, which is more elegant than mine, later on.

posted afternoon of July 17th, 2007: Respond

Thursday, June 21st, 2007

🦋 W00t!

My brother's book, Monk's Music: Thelonious Monk and Jazz History in the Making, is published and available on Amazon.

posted afternoon of June 21st, 2007: Respond
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Sunday, June 17th, 2007

Today I started reading Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH with Sylvia. I found it really gratifying to see how into the book she is; I remember having a similarly strong reaction to it as a kid.

posted evening of June 17th, 2007: Respond

Friday, April 20th, 2007

🦋 Invisible Circus

I'm reading Jennifer Egan's first novel, The Invisible Circus, now, and liking it a lot. I really admired the scene in which Faith told her sister she had been at an invisible circus, and Phoebe was put out about not being invited along -- it sounded real when it could easily have been precious and forced.

I recently read most of Zadie Smith's latest novel On Beauty and found it enjoyable, but didn't really think it stood up to The Autograph Man and White Teeth.

posted evening of April 20th, 2007: Respond
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Monday, February 26th, 2007

🦋 Dr. Borg

Watching Wild Strawberries tonight for the second-and-a-half time. At the opening scene I am hit by the realization that Dr. Borg is based (in part) on the same archetype which underlies Moominpappa's character. (I am rereading Comet in Moominland to Sylvia for bedtime stories this past week or so.) Also Sara reminds me of the Snork Maiden. Funny... I wonder how much Bergman and Jannsen are coming from the same place culturally.

posted evening of February 26th, 2007: Respond
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Tuesday, February 20th, 2007

So last night I finished Against the Day -- I was really loving and getting in to the end of Part IV, but the brief Part V left me pretty confused. I mean I liked that the Chums were diverging from our historical reality -- that seemed to tie in with a lot of the rest of the book -- but them coming back into our history wasn't really set up properly. I'm glad that Kit and Reef and their families wound up together.

Also last night I met Nicholas, to whom I am indebted for his concise explanation of Novi Pazar's history. Thanks, Nicholas!

posted morning of February 20th, 2007: Respond
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Sunday, January 14th, 2007

This afternoon we are going to Princeton to watch David Catlin's Lookingglass Alice. Should be a lot of fun.

posted morning of January 14th, 2007: Respond

Thursday, December 28th, 2006

Last night for bedtime stories, we finished Through the Looking Glass, which was totally enthralling for Sylvia. She's into pointing out the impossibilities of the story. What's funny: previously I had asked a couple of times if she would like to hear "Alice in Wonderland" but she always turned it down flat. I think the title just made it sound too much like a "princessy" story. But now she wants to hear it, and asked if we could read all of the stories in our Collected Work of Lewis Carroll. (I am skeptical how much of "Rhyme and Reason" she is actually going to want to listen to.)

posted afternoon of December 28th, 2006: Respond
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