Week Nine, Book Ten

Travels in the Scriptorium: A Novel
by Paul Auster

"An old man awakens, disoriented, in an unfamiliar chamber. With no memory of who he is or how he has arrived there, he pores over the relics on the desk, examining the circumstances of his confinement and searching his own hazy mind for clues."

Review: I cannot begin to tell you how intrigued I am by Auster. This is the third book I have read of his in the past week and a half and I just went to the library today and picked up The Brooklyn Follies. I feel that comparing his work to Beckett, Kafka and Borges is really overdone, but I cannot get away from the uncanny influence these great masters have had on this author. The story takes place in a sterile room with a man, a bed, a desk and chair, and a small bathroom. He cannot remember who he is and ironically enough he goes by the name of Mr. Blank. He is busy reading a manuscript placed on a desk that is a work of fiction written by John Trause. Auster uses a few characters from other works: Peter Stillman, Daniel Quinn, and Sophie Fanshawe are characters from Auster's own NEW YORK TRILOGY, Benjamin Sachs is from LEVIATHAN, Fogg is from MOON PALACE, Zimmer is from THE BOOK OF ILLUSIONS, and Anna Blume and Samuel Farr from IN THE COUNTRY OF LAST THINGS. Lastly, there is John Trause a character who appeared in ORACLE NIGHT and the author of the partially completed manuscript whose story line Mr. Blank tries to complete at Samuel Farr's request. A must read for anyone who dares to be lost in the world of existentialism and questions the power of the imagination!

Event

An Evening with DR. MAYA ANGELOU

@ NJPAC http://www.njpac.org/

Thursday, May 17, 2007
7:30 pm
Location : Prudential Hall

*Three-time Grammy Award winner Maya Angelou has been hailed as one of the greatest speakers of our time. A renowned poet, playwright, producer, director, conductor, performer, best-selling author, and social activist, her words and her spirit have been a source of inspiration and comfort for millions of people around the world.
(*NJPAC description)

websites:
http://www.mayaangelou.com/
http://www.mayaangelou.com/AngelouBooks.html
http://www.lordly.com/images/stories/ADOBE/PledgeYouthPoem.pdf

Tribute

A Tribute to W.H. Auden with Shirley Hazzard, J.D. McClatchy, Edward Mendelson, Ned Rorem, Charles Rosen and Oliver Sacks

This event, which celebrates Mr. Auden’s centennial, features recordings from the Poetry Center’s archives.

92nd Street Y
Date & Time: Mon, Mar 5, 2007, 8:00pm
Location: Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street
Venue: Kaufmann Concert Hall

Epitaph on a Tyrant
by W. H. Auden
Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.

Websites:

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19467

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/120

Books:

Collected Poems W. H. Auden

W. H. Auden John Fuller

Voice of the Poet W. H. Auden

Auden W. H. Auden

Drama:
Paid On Both Sides (1928)

The Dance of Death (1933)

The Dog Beneath the Skin: or, Where is Francis? (1935)

The Ascent of F.6 (1936)

On the Frontier (1938)

Graphic Novel

The Acme Novelty Library by Chris Ware

Review: I loved this! My favorite comics in this issue were: Rusty Brown, Adventures of The G.I. Jim Action Club, Chalky White and Big Tex. I am not a fan of Frank Phosphate or Tales of Tomorrow, but can appreciate the artwork and humor. The classic "old school" advertisements that are spread throughout the issue are perfect. There is a lot to read on a page and it takes a careful eye to pick out all of the jokes, kind of like "Where's Waldo?". I recommend this to anyone who has a dry sense of humor and appreciates adult jokes nonetheless.

Remember, comics are no longer just for kids!

About the author:

*Having been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, the Yale Review, Esquire, and nest, amongst many other periodicals, Ware has received also praise from The New York Times Book Review to ArtForum, and from people as far-ranging as Dave Eggers, David Sedaris, Matt Groening, Rick Moody, Zadie Smith, and his own mother.

* taken from http://www.fantagraphics.com/

other comics to consider:

Quimby the Mouse

Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth

Candide: Or, Optimism (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Walt and Skeezix, Book 2

Krazy & Ignatz 1935-1936: "A Wild Warmth of Chromatic Gravy" (Krazy Kat)

Illustrated Book

Auggie Wren's Christmas Story by Paul Auster and Isol

Review: This is not your typical holiday story and what a relief, since it is February and I felt the need to pick up a Christmas fable. The story takes place around Christmas time at a cigar shop in Brooklyn. It starts off with a dilemma. A writer has been asked by The New York Times to write a story that will appear in the paper on Christmas morning. And the result is a story involving a lost wallet, a blind woman and a Christmas dinner.

This illustrated book is only 37 pages long, but a fun read nonetheless. I happened to come upon this when I was doing some research yesterday in the local library on my latest author, whom I'm obsessing over. I found that he has not only written a ton of novels, nonfiction and poetry, but he wrote a few screenplays. The one that stood out for me was the movie Smoke, starring Harvey Keitel and William Hurt . Which led me to remember another movie that I loved, the follow up to Smoke called Blue in the Face, starring Michael J. Fox and Roseanne.If I recall both movies have great soundtracks.
(click for links) Smoke and Blue in the Face

Fitness

LL Cool J's Platinum Workout: Sculpt Your Best Body Ever with Hollywood's Fittest Star

by LL Cool J, Dave Honig, and Jeff O'Connell

Review: Most celebrity fitness books are lame, but this colorful and easy to follow manual had me interested just from the cover alone. Who doesn't love LL? Easy on the eyes and definitely someone to look up to in the world of cut up bodies. I was impressed with the sample meal plan and great recipes in this book. LL has 4 Platinum recipes: chili, a sandwich, a burger and a shake. Inside you will find "9 ways to burn 100 calories" and "9 reasons your not losing weight". There are easy tips on how you should approach cleaning out your fridge and a handy food breakdown chart with insight on label reading. Most of his exercises revolve around using your own body weight for toning and the importance of having good form in all activities. I didn't feel overwhelmed until I got to his weight lifting photos, wow, LL is strong! I like to stick to minimal weights and maximum cardio myself, but all and all this book is fun and informative.

Happy workout!

books by or about LL:
I Make My Own Rules by L. L. Cool J and Karen Hunter
Ll Cool J (The Library of Hip Hop Biographies) by Richard Juzwiak
And The Winner Is¿ by Ll Cool J and Jib Jab Media
Ll Cool J (Hip-Hop) by Brian Baughan

My Top 10 Favorite LL Cool J Songs:

(I think this would be a great workout mix!)

1.Rock The Bells

2.I'm Bad

3.Jingling Baby

4.Around The Way Girl

5.Mama Said Knock You Out

6.Back Seat

7.Going Back To Cali

8.I Need Love

9.I Need A Beat

10.Doin It

Week Eight, Bonus Review

City of Glass

by Paul Auster, Paul Karasik, David Mazzucchelli, and Art Spiegelman

...THE TELEPHONE RINGING THREE TIMES IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT...

Review: This was a surreal introduction to *Auster's novel

The New York Trilogy which was originally published in 1985, and in 1994 was adapted into this graphic novel. I automatically thought of Franz Kafka, and Jorge Luis Borges especially exploring his multiple- identity characters. This is definitely a good one for the lover of detective stories, post-modernist seeker and/or comic lover. One seems to forget you are engaged in a graphic novel due to the complexity of the storyline. A bizarre ending to part one of a unique trilogy. A must read for existentialist fans alike.

*He is also a translator, poet, editor, contributor, script writer and more recently film director.

Sites to visit:

http://www.paulauster.co.uk/

http://www.bluecricket.com/auster/auster.html

http://wings.buffalo.edu/epc/linebreak/programs/auster/

Week Eight, Book Nine

What Did I Do Last Night?: A Drunkard's Tale

Tom Sykes

Review: If you are around 30-40 years old and live in the London or the NYC area, this book can very well seem like a trip down memory lane. Sykes shares honest and humorous stories from his days before he checked himself into rehab and began a family. (Sykes now lives in rural Ireland with his wife and son.) Some of the bars and nightclubs he mentions still are alive in the city and would be interesting to visit after reading this memoir. I put this book on my Christmas list, due to the single fact that Sykes wrote for The New York Post's infamous gossip column "Page Six". (Being a Post subscriber, this is the first page I turn to daily for all of my celebrity gossip.) He also devised and edited the paper's bar column "Block Party", and its dating column, "Meet Market".This memoir takes us from his early days of journalist training at the Daily Telegraph and the Evening Standard in London to his drunk and stoned days at The New York Post in Manhattan. Overall, I have to say this is one of the better addiction sagas I have read and would suggest it to anyone who is looking for a "new" and "hip" memoir.

sites to check out:

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/home/
http://www.nypost.com/gossip/gossip.htm
http://www.radaronline.com/features/2006/10/drinking_drugging_and_page_six.php

http://www.creativewell.com/sykes.html

Poets & Writers Magazine

I just received the newest issue of Poets & Writers Magazine last week and I cannot believe my eyes. On the front cover is one of the best "beat" poets of all time, Lawrence Ferlinghetti. After going to City Lights Bookstore http://www.citylights.com/ in San Francisco 2 years ago, I haven't been able to stop reading him and other "beat" poets in general. I rank him right next to Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg , who happen to be my favorite "beat" poets of all time. If you want more of Ferlinghetti, you can see him live at the 92nd Street Y http://www.92y.org/ on Mon, Apr 16, 8:00pm. I already have tickets and cannot wait to finally hear some of his poems recited by the man himself.
Here is one of his newest poems, enjoy:

BRAINWASHED POET
He dropped his pencil

And picked up a bomb

And the pencil writing backward

Came to a point

And exploded as if it were loaded

With something worse than verse

And he was the first poet

To have his pencil shots

Ring through the night

And such a success was he

That they named him

National Poet of the Plutocracy

Destroying our democracy

Here are some "beat" books worth checking out:

Love in the Days of Rage

San Francisco Poems

Scratching the Beat Surface: Essays on New Vision from Blake to Kerouac

Howl and Other Poems (City Lights Pocket Poets Series)

poetry websites:

Poets & Writers Magazine: http://www.pw.org/

podcasts: http://www.pw.org/audio/

teachers guide: http://www.pw.org/mag/teachersguide/3.html

Comic Convention

http://www.nycomiccon.com/

Saturday, February 24, 2007 (10am - 8pm) Sunday,February 25, 2007 (10am - 5pm)

Both Days Open to the PublicFans and soon-to-be fans are invited to see what's new, get the inside scoop and the behind-the-scenes buzz on Comic and Graphic Novels, Anime and Manga, Games, Movie Studios and TV, Video Game Publishers, Toy Companies, Licensing Companies, Retailers and Dealers, Artists Creators.

New York Literary Institution

Non-Fiction: ONLY CHILD NIGHT Elizabeth Devita-Raeburn, Janice Nimura, Deborah Seigal, + Daphne Uviller
Feb 27, 2007 7:00-9:00pm

KGB Bar
85 East 4th Street, NY
212-505-3360
http://www.kgbbar.com/

Elizabeth Devita-Raeburn, Janice Nimura, Deborah Seigal, and Daphne Uviller read from the anthology Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo.

Cooking Magazine

One of my staple magazines when it comes to cooking:
http://www.rachaelraymag.com/

Be sure to check out the "web exclusives".

Week Seven, Book Eight

I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman

by Nora Ephron

Review: I actually read this book on a whim. If you asked me who Nora Ephron was before yesterday, I would have probably described the author Nora Roberts to you and laughed. There are a few authors that I refuse to read and my reasoning is probably not really fair, but it is what it is. I am not a fan of Nicholas Sparks, James Patterson or Mary Higgins Clark and probably never will be. So, on Fri. my mother-in-law hands me this book that her daughter bought her for Christmas and insists I read it for a good laugh. The fact that Fri. was a stellar day for me, I couldn't resist some laugh therapy this weekend. I started last night at 1:30 am and read about 30 pages. Woke up this morning and polished off another 20. Then, went to brunch, came home and read the rest of the book straight through. Now this book is only 137 pages, so don't applaud me yet. I have to say that I laughed out loud up until the last chapter (Considering the Alternative). The whole book is split into mini chronicles of Ephron's life as a woman. This is a great book for all women, young or old, single or married and especially women who live in the NYC area. I appreciated her honesty and dry humor in the chapter entitled "I Hate My Purse". Bottom line, if you loved her movies: Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail and When Harry Met Sally, then you will love her writing.

Nora's blog: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nora-ephron/

free books: http://www.books-media-rewardpath.com/rd_p?p=104136&t=3077&c=537360&gift=21997&a=21997-nora%20ephron

movie credit: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001188/

Let Them Eat Cupcakes

At Home with Magnolia: Classic American Recipes from the Owner of Magnolia Bakery

by Allysa Torey and John Kernick

Who does not love a good cupcake every now and then? I cannot stop hearing that the "cupcake" is the new black. I just read an article on Valentine Love Themes and of course a few baking cookbooks were listed and this one caught my eye. I remembered my friend Amanda about a year ago passing on a cupcake book to a co-worker and thought, finally people have taken the cupcake to the next level. In all the celebrity and home magazines "the cupcake" has been advertised as a major dessert for weddings and parties alike. So, I think I need to visit Magnolia the next time I am in NYC and see for myself.

Bon Appétit! http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/7117258/

Here are some titles for the cupcake lover:

More From Magnolia: Recipes from the World Famous Bakery and Allysa Torey's Home Kitchen by Allysa Torey

The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook: Old-Fashioned Recipes From New York's Sweetest Bakery
by Jennifer Appel

Buttercup Bakes at Home: More Than 75 New Recipes from Manhattan's Premier Bake Shop for Tempting Homemade Sweets by Jennifer Appel

Suggested Reading

I recently ran into an old high school friend (Irena) at the gym and we started exchanging names of bands we are currently listening to and authors we love to read.

Here is Irena's latest suggestion via email:
"So the author I thought u might like is Chuck Klosterman...Right now i’m reading Killing yourself to Live by him...which rocks. I think you would especially like it because you are a music lover. He writes about an assignment he was on from Spin magazine to do a cross country expedition to all these death sites of famous rockers that died tragically. In the midst of this he discusses a bunch of other stuff like love, sex, and drugs...u know the good ole American things."

Thanks Irena! I have been meaning to check out Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story, but after reading the review for Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota it's a no brainer which one I am reading first. I can't wait to rock it out in Fargo!

See Chuck Klosterman's list of Music You Should Hear:
A guide by Amazon Earworm "Amazon Music Editors"

blog: http://whoschuck.blogspot.com/

Books by Chuck Klosterman:

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas

Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story

Fargo Rock City : A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota

Monologue, A Must See

Wallace Shawn's The Fever

While visiting a poverty-stricken country far from home, the unnamed narrator of The Fever is forced to witness the political persecution occurring just beyond a hotel window. In examining a life of comfort and relative privilege, the narrator reveals, "I always say to my friends, We should be glad to be alive. We should celebrate life. We should understand that life is wonderful." But how does one celebrate life - take pleasure in beauty, for instance - while slowly becoming aware that the poverty and oppression of other human beings are a direct consequence of one's own pleasurable life? In a coruscating monologue, The Fever is most of all an eloquent meditation on living a life with conscience and action in ethical relationship to others in the world.

(This above book description came from http://www.amazon.com/)

THE FEVER Written and performed by Wallace Shawn Directed by Scott Elliott

The Acorn @ Theatre Row410 West 42nd Street

(between 9th & 10th Avenues)New York, NY 10036

Please join Mr. Shawn for a sip of champagne one half hour before each performance.

Limited Engagement: January 9th - March 9th

tickets:

http://www.thenewgroup.org/

http://www.theatermania.com/home/

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Elephant is Slow to Mate
by D.H. Lawrence

The elephant, the huge old beast,
is slow to mate;
he finds a female, they show no haste
they wait
for the sympathy in their vast shy hearts
slowly, slowly to rouse
as they loiter along the river-beds
and drink and browse
and dash in panic through the brake
of forest with the herd,
and sleep in massive silence, and wake
together, without a word.
So slowly the great hot elephant hearts
grow full of desire,
and the great beasts mate in secret at last,
hiding their fire.
Oldest they are and the wisest of beasts
so they know at last
how to wait for the loneliest of feasts
for the full repast.
They do not snatch, they do not tear;
their massive blood
moves as the moon-tides, near, more near
till they touch in flood.

From The Complete Poems of D. H. Lawrence, edited by V. De Sola Pinto & F. W. Roberts. Copyright © 1964, 1971 by Angela Ravagli and C. M. Weekly, Executors of the Estate of Frieda Lawrence Ravagli. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc.

Writer's Block

Review: I know this blog is all about reading, but through a special request from Jason I was prompted to give you some music to think about. The albumn is entitled Writer's Block which is a term related to reading, so I guess I'm not that far off topic.
I recently went to see Peter Bjorn & John @ Mercury Lounge in NYC and was not disappointed. Although, there are many reviews out there that bashed their fans behavior and the excessive camera/phone usage at their shows, I for one thought that they were very upbeat and fun. I just bought their latest CD Writer's Block and haven't taken it out of my car in the last 3 days. If you like their sound, then I suggest you grab another one of their Cd's called Falling Out.

Lyrics from Writer's Block:

”If I told you things I did before,told you how I used to be, would you go along with someone like me?” - Young Folks

”The question is, was I more alive then than I am now? I happily have to disagree; I laugh more often now, I cry more often now, I am more me”- Objects of My Affection

”Your field is crowded and there is still no place for someone like me to fill” - The Chills

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51V1VMkuyx0

my space: http://www.myspace.com/peterbjornandjohn

albumn review: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/39118/Peter_Bjorn_and_John_Writers_

Novel Turns 50 Years Old!

"On the Road" turns 50 this year and NYC is flooded with celebrations. The New York Post listed on Jan. 13th a walking tour that was put together in connection with Bill Morgan's "The Beat Generation of New York: A Walking Tour of Jack Kerouac's City". Check out the full article here: http://www.nypost.com/

Cool Kerouac Sites:
http://www-hsc.usc.edu/~gallaher/k_speaks/kerouacspeaks.html

http://www.rooknet.com/beatpage/writers/kerouac.html

http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/ontheroad/

New Novel, Classic Author

The Curtain: An Essay in Seven Parts

Milan Kundera, Linda Asher (Translator), Linda Asher (Translator)

Kundera's newest novel is a reflection on the art of "the novel". If you haven't read anything by this author I suggest you start with The Unbearable Lightness of Being or Identity: A Novel. I was introduced to Kundera while studying abroad in Eastern Europe and he has been a favorite of mine for years.

Quotes from the novel:

"A magic curtain, woven of legends, hung before the world."

"Cervantes sent Don Quixote journeying and tore through the curtain. The world opened before the knight-errant in all the comical nakedness of its prose."

First Novel In A Decade

The Castle in the Forest: A Novel by Norman Mailer

In his latest novel, The Castle in the Forest, he imagines the early life of the 20th century's foremost representative of evil, Adolf Hitler, as narrated by one of Satan's minions.

other works by Mailer:
THE NAKED AND THE DEAD, 1948
THE DEER PARK, 1955
THE WHITE NEGRO, 1957
ADVERTISEMENTS FOR MYSELF, 1959
DEATHS FOR THE LADIES, AND OTHER DISASTERS, 1962
THE PRESIDENTIAL PAPERS, 1963
AN AMERICAN DREAM, 1965
CANNIBALS AND CHRISTIANS, 1966
THE BULLFIGHT, 1967
WHY ARE WE IN VIETNAM?, 1967
THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION, 1967
THE ARMIES OF THE NIGHT, 1968
THE IDOL AND THE OCTOPUS, 1968
MIAMI AND THE SIEGE OF CHIGACO, 1968
RUNNING AGAINST THE MACHINE, 1969
OF A FIRE ON THE MOON, 1970
THE PRISONER OF SEX, 1971
KING OF THE HILL, 1971
THE LONG PATROL, 1971
ST. GEORGE AND THE GODFATHER, 1972
EXISTENTIAL ERRANDS, 1972
MARILYN, 1973.
THE FIGHT OF GRAFFITI / WATCHING MY NAME GO BY, 1975
THE FLIGHT, 1975
GENIUS AND LUST, 1976
SOME HONORABLE MEN, 1976
THE EXECUTUONER'S SONG, 1979
OF WOMEN AND THEIR ELEGANCE, 1980
PIECES AND PONTIFICATIONS, 1982
THE ESSENTIAL MAILER, 1982
ANCIENT EVENINGS, 1984
TOUGH GUYS DON'T DANCE, 1984
HUCKLEBERRY FINN, 1985
HARLOT'S GHOST, 1991
PABLO AND FERNANDE, 1994
OSWALD'S TALE: AN AMERICAN MYSTERY, 1995
PORTRAIT OF PICASSO AS A YOUNG MAN, 1995
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE SON, 1997
THE TIME OF OUR TIME, 1998
INTO THE MIRROR by Lawrence Schiller, 2002
THE SPOOKY ART, 2003
WHY ARE WE AT WAR?, 2003
MODEST GIFTS, 2003
THE BIG EMPTY, 2006
THE CASTLE IN THE FOREST, 2007

Week Six, Book Seven

Okay, so this week aside from the Book Club meeting of Lipstick Jihad, I still felt obligated to read an additional book in order to meet my quota of "one book a week". I chose A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut http://www.vonnegut.com/ and was very satisfied in my selection. Vonnegut has been my favorite author for quite some time now and I am rarely disappointed.

Review: I have to say that it was a fast read that took me one day and a half to finish with ease, but left me thinking about it for hours afterwards. I loved the illustrations http://www.vonnegutweb.com/ by the author and quotes in the beginning of each chapter. If you are a fan of politics, current events and humor, then this is a fun and frightening book to tackle. Not my favorite Vonnegut book to date, but I really doubt there will be any new books in the future. I suggest if you really want to read something great, then try Timequake.

Author Alert

I just purchased 8 tickets online tonight for this event and am so happy that I did. Ian McEwan's Atonement was the first book that my Book Club read, a little over a year ago. I have since started to collect some of his novels with the intent of reading a few before I see him. I have 3 in my possession:Amsterdam, The Cement Garden and The Comfort of Strangers. I think I may tackle Saturday, it seems to be a hot one.

Hailed as "the supreme novelist of his generation" by The Sunday Times of London, Ian McEwan is the author of more than ten books, including the novels Saturday and Atonement, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the W. H. Smith Literary Award; Enduring Love; The Comfort of Strangers and Black Dogs, both short-listed for the Booker Prize; Amsterdam, which won the Booker Prize; and The Child in Time, which won the Whitbread Award; as well as the short-story collections First Love, Last Rites, winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and In Between the Sheets. His most recent novel, On Chesil Beach, will be published on June 5, 2007. (description from 92nd Street Y)

Date & Time: Tue, Jun 5, 2007, 8:00pm-9:30pm
Location: Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street

Mojo Magazine

Review: Not only was I able to find a copy of UnCut tonight, but right next to it on the shelf tempting me was the newest copy of Mojo. Once again, the cover got me. I never pass up a magazine with The Beatles, The Smiths/Morrissey or Led Zeppelin on the cover. So another $10 later, here I am listening to another free CD.



site: http://www.mojo4music.com/newissue/

radio: http://www.whatson.com/mojo/

UnCut Magazine

Review: This is one of the best magazine's for the not so common music lover. You will not find top 40 music here, but you will dive head first into what is hot underground in the UK and US. I find that although this mag is roughly $10, it is worth every penny. The attached free CD alone is worth the money. I just bought the newest issue solely for the fact that The Smiths were on the cover. I cannot get enough of Morrissey, sorry guys!

UNCUT is the UK's most authoritative music and film magazine and every month celebrates the great legends, icons and maverick talents of rock and movies in one brilliant package that embraces both old and new, cult and classic. It is essential reading for anyone with a passion for music and film - and every month there's a free CD.

http://www.uncut.co.uk/magazine/

Coming Soon

Minetta Lane Theatre in NYC

Feb. 20th thru May 13th 2007

http://www.storieslefttotell.com/

Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell catapults us into the hilarious, provocative and heartbreaking life and words of one of the most irreverent and revered storytellers of our time. A five-person ensemble performs Spalding Gray's legendary stories and monologues -- interwoven with previously unpublished letters and entries from his personal journal. (review from site)

tickets: http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/1098051

Newest Book Club Selection

The Blind Assassin: A Novel

Read an Excerpt:

The Bridge

Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge. The bridge was being repaired: she went right through the Danger sign. The car fell a hundred feet into the ravine, smashing through the treetops feathery with new leaves, then burst into flames and rolled down into the shallow creek at the bottom. Chunks of the bridge fell on top of it. Nothing much was left of her but charred smithereens.

Margaret Atwood:

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/atwood/

Reading group questions:
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides/blind_assassin.asp

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385720953&view=rg

To Read or Not to Read?

Water for Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen

An atmospheric, gritty, and compelling novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932. When our protagonist, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, drifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression. As a veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her.

Question:

This book has been popping up left and right in my life lately. Why? I have read the reviews and

feel no need to read about a circus, too side show Bob for me, but more than two people brought it up today and I cannot shake the thought of trying it out. Please comment in and let me know, "yes" or "no".

Reading Sites

Great Sites to Check Out:

Reading Groups:

http://www.readinggroupguides.com/

Authors:

http://www.authorsontheweb.com/

Readers:

http://www.faithfulreader.com/

Author search

http://www.authoryellowpages.com/

Teen books:

http://www.teenreads.com/

Kid Books:

http://www.kidsreads.com/

Highly Recommended

If you liked Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss, you'll laugh your head off reading Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences by Kitty Burns Florey.

And who said that sentence diagramming is a lost art?

Book Drop

BookCrossing:

http://www.bookcrossing.com/about

Found this site after reading an article in The Star- Ledger and thought it looked fun. Enjoy!

BookCrossing.com is a labor of love that was conceived and is maintained by Humankind Systems, Inc., a software and internet development company with offices in Kansas City, Missouri, and Sandpoint, Idaho. Looking for a break from the doldrums of creating yet another e-commerce website (that's just what the world needs), or email server application (oooh, those are doubly exciting), Humankind partner Ron Hornbaker sought to create a community site that would be the first of its kind, that would give back to the world at large, and that would provide warm fuzzy feelings whenever he worked on it. BookCrossing.com was the result.

Book Club Results

Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America And American in Iran by Azadeh Moaveni

Review: It took me 3 days to read this book and what a 3 days it has been. I finally put it to rest at 12:30 am which is why I was late for work this morning (besides the snow sprinkle) and have been high on caffeine all day. I am about to crash at any moment. So, what did the group think of this one? Well, the consensus is that this was worth the read and we had a pretty descent political discussion about Iran and the U.S. I felt that I needed to consult some historical text before going into this meeting and I was glad I did. Moaveni does a little bit of a history lesson in the first few chapters, but I wasn't fully satisfied until I spoke to the group and we pieced together the Islamic Republic and the history behind the Revolution.

If you would like to check out more news on Iran here are some sites to consult:
country profile:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/790877.stm

Islamic Republic New Agency:
http://www.irna.ir/en/

Iran Chamber Society:
http://www.iranchamber.com/history/rkhomeini/ayatollah_khomeini.php

Library of Congress:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/irtoc.html

Overall, I think that the style of this memoir was completely different from most that I read due to the rich journalistic style. I would love to know what she has been doing since 2001 and if she is still in Beirut. Lipstick Jihad is about the search for home. Moaveni, I hope you have found "your" home.

Upcoming Book Talk

The Tibetan Book of the Dead

Date & Time: Wed, Mar 28, 2007, 7:30pm-9:00pm
Location: Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street

purchase tickets: http://www.92y.org/shop/event_detail.asp?productid=T%2DLH5PH06

P.S. I have tickets for this since Fall (2006) and cannot wait to attend. The 92nd Street Y is one of my favorite places to visit in NYC.


"Morgan StebbinsIt’s not just for the dead! Using Jungian tools to decipher the text, see just how and when we can act to change our patterns of behavior during the critical ”bardo” or in-between phases of experience. Bring your bad habits and your imagination.Morgan Stebbins, MDiv, CSW, is a Jungian analyst in New York and a faculty member of the C.G. Jung Foundation. A series in partnership with the C.G. Jung Foundation for Analytical Psychology."

Comic Book

"XIII (Thirteen) is a Franco-Belgian comic book series about an amnesiac protagonist written by the Belgian Jean Van Hamme and drawn by the Belgian William Vance. XIII first appeared in 1984, and was later published by Dargaud. In 2004 the storyline of the first five volumes was adapted into a video game, also titled XIII, that was released on several platforms."

Review: This was a free comic from June 2005 that has been sitting in my "to read" comic book basket. I figure if it is good enough to be a video game, then it must have some entertaining qualities. Definitely worth the read!

Comic and Game sites to check:

Alias Comics= http://www.aliasenterprises.com/index.html

Video game= http://www.xiii-thegame.com/uk/faq.php

http://games.teamxbox.com/xbox/346/XIII/

Children's Book

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)

by Rick Riordan

Review: Great for the Harry Potter fan and Greek Mythology lover.

This story starts off in NYC and takes you in the first 50 pages to Montauk, Long Island. How could I not continue reading? There will be five books in the Percy Jackson series. The fun begins with The Lightning Thief and continues in The Sea of Monsters. The third Percy Jackson book, The Titan's Curse, will be published in May 2007.

Sites to search:

children= http://www.rickriordan.com/children.htm

author= http://www.rickriordan.com/

blog= http://rickriordan.blogspot.com/

Hyperion books= http://www.hyperionbooksforchildren.com/

book jacket artist= http://www.imagekind.com/GalleryProfile.aspx?GID=1febf59e-2b1c-48ad-a01b-363bd0b6871f&P=1

CookBook Review

Hot Italian Dish
A Cookbook By Victoria Gotti

Review: If you are looking for a few good staple Italian dishes and fast, check out this new cookbook by the one and only star of Growing Up Gotti http://www.aetv.com/growing_up_gotti/.

Hot Italian Dish not only offers recipes, but often hilarious stories of Gotti's family life and her outrageous and hectic celebrity lifestyle. Mangia!

Some Recipes inside:

*Tricolor Salad with Goat Cheese and Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
*Tuscan Vegetable and Bread Soup
*Stuffed Artichokes
*Rigatoni in Spicy Cauliflower Sauce
*Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage
*Veal Chops with Prosciutto and Mozzarella
*Italian Wine Pudding

Lecture Alert

If you are in the NJ area this week, do not miss a great opportunity to catch a celebrity scientist.

"Jared Diamond, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning Guns, Germs and Steel, is the epitome of the celebrity scientist. His lectures routinely draw thousands of rapt listeners, who walk away with a deeper and more nuanced view of the development of human civilization and the continued gulf between rich and poor in the global community."

Drew University, 36 Madison Avenue, Madison NJ 07940, (973) 408-3000
http://www.drew.edu/

Week Five, Book Six

Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans: The Best of McSweeney's, Humor Category by Dave Eggers, Kevin Shay, Lee Epstein, and John Warner

Review: Laugh out loud funny, but in a sick way. This is a collection from the clever young writers that bring us the McSweeney's literary journal and Web site. You have to check out the "Lists" section towards the back of the book, it is chock full of the oddest lists I have ever seen in print. Overall, this is an excellent book and I found myself reading passages out loud to family and friends.

I am a huge fan of McSweeney's http://www.mcsweeneys.net/ , Believer http://www.believermag.com/ and Wholphin http://www.wholphindvd.com/index.php magazines which are worth checking out online as well as your local bookstore.

Sample list from this book:
I N F R E Q U E N T L Y A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S BY JT DOBBS
1: Can I top off your warm salt water?2: Does this sound infected?3: Who's her favorite bass player?4: Why is your spleen like that?5: Is he going to perpetuate that misconception all night?6: But how do you get it to float next to the VCR?7: Why brown?8: Did you say "Massachusetts?"9: Was that when you noticed my uncle's birthmark?10: When does the next Frenchman go by here?11: Who said anything about yachting?12: Isn't that the guy from Psychedelic Furs?13: Why was that written?14: What's with the hedge trimmer?15: Could you please stop looking at my bowling trophy?16: You call yourself a witch doctor?17: Couldn't you at least have buried the can opener?18: What do you know from black lung?19: More duck sauce?20: Who dat talkin' 'bout beatin' dem Bengals?

Short Stories

This is one of my new favorite sites for work and play. Enjoy!

http://www.short-stories.co.uk/