Books, Inq. — The Epilogue

The everlasting blurb …

2013-05-22T16:00:00.001-04:00

… Two thumbs up! (I hated it). (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I reviewed Henry Miller's posthumously published Crazy Cock. It's not very good. In fact, it's pretty terrible. I said that, except for Miller aficionados, no one would want to read it. I was blurbed accordingly: "For Miller aficionados."

I like children...

2013-05-22T15:55:00.001-04:00

...An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and he turned to her and said, "Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you... strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."

The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, "What would you want to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know," said the atheist. "How about why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?" as he smiled smugly.

"Okay," she said. "Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?"

The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea." To which the little girl replies, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss God, Heaven and Hell, or life after death, when you don't know shit?"

And then she went back to reading her book.

This was picked up from that all-weather arbiter also called Facebook

One man's karma …

2013-05-22T15:47:00.001-04:00

… Blogslot: A U-Turn. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Pondering what may be …

2013-05-22T15:45:00.001-04:00

… Speculations (“The future is ___________”) — Triple Canopy.

Sick of an old passion …

2013-05-22T15:39:00.001-04:00

… First Known When Lost: "I Have Been A Hazel-Tree, And They Hung The Pilot Star And The Crooked Plough Among My Leaves".

Literary marathon...

2013-05-22T12:13:00.000-04:00

...Natalie Haynes: Confessions of a Booker judge

High score on the laugh meter …

2013-05-22T09:37:00.002-04:00

… The Millions : Nothing Funnier Than Unhappiness: A Necessarily Ill-Informed Argument for Flann O’Brien’s The Poor Mouth as the Funniest Book Ever Written. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

A courtier in trouble …

2013-05-22T09:35:00.001-04:00

… Anecdotal Evidence: `An Old Man, Grave and Reasonable'.

Sleep and inhibitions … …

2013-05-22T09:32:00.001-04:00

… Lorelei Lee baffles “a famous doctor in Vienna called Dr. Froyd” | The Book Haven.

Lovely …

2013-05-22T09:30:00.001-04:00

… Lincoln Hunter Web Log: What science can't prove, it sometimes denies.

Q & A …

2013-05-22T09:25:00.001-04:00

… Charles Henry Rowell | NewsHour Poetry Series | PBS. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Not as easy as you may think …

2013-05-22T09:22:00.001-04:00

… Unbelievable! Casting Truth as Fiction | BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog.

Appreciation …

2013-05-22T09:19:00.001-04:00

… Remembering Henry Hope Reed by Francis Morrone – The Municipal Art Society of New York. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I have collected many stories of Henry and the things he said on walking tours. He had a definite point of view. To some he was a “fuddy duddy.” His scorn for Modernist architecture made him not a few enemies. In fact, that scorn made even MAS uneasy. It’s why, in order to balance the walking tours’ point of view, MAS enlisted the aid of a MoMA intern named Ada Louise Huxtable to put together some Modernist-friendly walking tours. (As readers of this blog well know, Ada Louise Huxtable died this past January, at the age of 91. The twin deaths of Ada Louise Huxtable and Henry Hope Reed bring down the curtain on preservation’s greatest generation.) Henry later shifted his tours to the Museum of the City of New York, but he remained involved with MAS and would even lead MAS tours again.

The job market …

2013-05-22T09:12:00.002-04:00

… zmkc: In Case You Missed It. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

A thought for todat …

2013-05-22T09:00:00.000-04:00

The first moments of sleep are an image of death; a hazy torpor grips our thoughts and it becomes impossible for us to determine the exact instant when the 'I,' under another form, continues the task of existence.

— Gerard de Nerval, born on this date in 1808

An Acclaimed Afterlife

2013-05-21T23:59:00.003-04:00

...more on the influence of W.G. Sebald

RIP Ray Manzarek …

2013-05-21T20:51:00.000-04:00

The kiss of death …

2013-05-21T15:30:00.001-04:00

… Scholars in Bondage - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

It is unclear whether the grave problems with these books stemmed from the authors' wary job maneuvering in a depressed market or were imposed by an authoritarian academic apparatus of politically correct advisers and outside readers. But the result is a deplorable waste. What could and should have been enduring contributions to both scholarship and cultural criticism have been deeply damaged by the authors' rote recitation of theoretical clichés.

If anything could kill kink, it would be the academy.

TRth and imagination …

2013-05-21T15:18:00.001-04:00

… Imagining Emily | BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog.

Q&A with...

2013-05-21T15:09:00.001-04:00

...Todd May

I certainly have felt this way. But as a logical matter, it doesn’t make any sense to me why that would be the case—why anything would be less meaningful simply because it doesn’t endure forever. Same with beauty—why would something be less beautiful simply because it wasn’t permanent? It existed for a while, it was meaningful for a while, it was beautiful for a while. Why is it so hard for us to get our heads around that idea?

Whocareits ...

2013-05-21T14:50:00.001-04:00

... Whodunnits have become so unsatisfactory. The answers never live up to the questions - Comment - Voices - The Independent. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Doubling up …

2013-05-21T10:43:00.001-04:00

… A Life in Full.

Tyranny alert …

2013-05-21T10:31:00.000-04:00

… Parole Refusal Sparks Fears For Jailed Chinese Dissident's Health. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

Of course, in this country, as Glenn Reynolds likes to point out, "Scapegoated filmmaker Nakoula is still in jail."

Tracking a phrase …

2013-05-21T10:22:00.003-04:00

… “Did You Lose the Keys Here?” “No, But the Light Is Much Better Here” . (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Learning to say no …

2013-05-21T10:20:00.001-04:00

… On Writing with a Shaky Hand | BREVITY's Nonfiction Blog.