A Momentary Taste of Being

I have to admit that this short novel came as something of a disappointment.  Perhaps my expectations were set much too high by so many reviewers. Ms. von Le Fort tells the story of the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne--seventeen Carmelites who were executed just before the end of the Terror.  She tells the story from the point of view of one who, while desiring most of all martyrdom, is trapped in the martyrdom of the one who escaped. Short, easy to read, but not at all what I expected from a book so highly praised.  It suggests that I need to go back and reread. Or perhaps better, return to the short opera by Fracois Poulenc which the work inspired--"Dialogue of the Carmelites." ***

The University of Chicago Press is publishing more e-books--this time a group of mysteries about which I had been wondering just recently.  You can get Robert van Gulik's The Chinese Maze Murders for free. To call van Gulik's mysteries concerning the apparently real Judge Dee magisterial is a gross understatement.  They are unmatched for their sheer interest and oddity in the annals of crime. I am, however, puzzled by the match in cost between the paperback edition and the e-book.  I do understand that there is a price point below which e-books are not viable--but there must be a substantial cost differential between supplying the ephemeral e-book and supplying the permanent paper, ink, and glue book.  This saving should, in part be passed on to the consumer.  However, I also recognize that here are hidden costs, especially with DRM deliveries.  What I would love to see is cost analysis of the two.

Abraham Verghese Cutting for Stone This is a book I've looked at on and off, this review makes me think I need to do more than look.

Mailer v. Vidal For those who thought incivility in public was a relatively new phenomenon.  

One of those great and mysterious books that, while they do not abound, never fail to intrigue. via BooksInq.

Queen Victoria on hearing the news that she was queen--uttterly fascinating.

The Feast of the Goat reviewed

Mark Athitakis pens some thoughts contra-contra Vonnegut that precisely coincide with my own.

No on Vonnegut --I don't agree with Mr. Myers's conclusions or reasoning nor completely with his evaluation of Kurt Vonnegut as an influence/author.  However, I always enjoy reading what he has to say, perhaps especially when we're not in alignment.

"In Praise of Reading and Fiction"

Celebrating a forthcoming book--the Good Life Quiz via Books Inq. This weekend, I was entertaining ideas that are represented here.  Most particularly, I was giving myself a good talking to about how I end up creating a reality that has no ostensible connection to the facts of things "as they are."  I, like "The Man with the Blue Guitar"  seem  to think "things as they are are changed upon the blue guitar."  But are they?  Or is it only my perception of them that gives them more portent and more weight?

I haven't read the book, but this mini-interview with David Vann makes the book sound most intriguing.

Selected Prose of Heinrich von Kleist

Perhaps it would be wise to preface my remarks with a caveat--there is much in this collection that I have grown fatigued with--the modern insistence on our inability to communicate, our inability to sustain love, our inability..... you get the drift.  And were this were merely another visit to the bleak urban/suburban landscape of the divorced and the adulterous, I would find myself unable to review, much less recommend a book like this.  Yes, we're revisiting very tired territory--ultimately vicious-cycle territory--however, we enter it with such a new and delightful perspective and with such a vivacious sense of story and language that much would otherwise be unendurable is not only pleasant, but on occasion delightful. Lara Vapnyar is from Russia, living in America, and as such she captures a real feel of "Russian" New York.  I was fortunate enough to have a New York native take me to Coney Island and then lead me through a tour of Brighton Beach, Sheepshead Bay and...