onegoodmove

I just came across Men and Cartoons: Stories a book by Johathan Lethem purusing the book page at Salon. They describe the book as " a sort of appetizer tray of Lethem characters: there are superheroes, regular Joes, detectives, academics, and evan a suicidal sheep." One of the benefits of having a premium membership at Salon is the ability to download mp3's of stories and songs they are writing about. I listened to "The Glasses" one of the stories in the collection and it convinced me I'd better order the book. Salon is subscription only but I believe you can get a day pass. And speaking of Lethem If you haven't read Motherless Brooklyn let me recommend that you put it on your short list, It is the story of a private eye that has Tourette's syndrome, nuff said....

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Posted by Norm at 9:47 AM | Permalink

Schopenhauer didn't think so. Have a look at this review of his The Art of Always Being Right. Schopenhauer's sardonic little book, laying out 38 rhetorical tricks guaranteed to win you the argument even when you are defeated in logical discussion, is a true text for the times. An exercise in irony and realism, humour and melancholy, this is no antiquarian oddity, but an instruction manual in intellectual duplicity that no aspiring parliamentarian, trainee lawyer, wannabe TV interviewer or newspaper columnist can afford to be without. update: It looks like the book is based on Schopenhauer's The Art of Controversy which is available online. Thanks to reader Tim for the link....

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Posted by Chris Jenson at 2:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Villages is not Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, though it certainly does share the humanity of a small town. Haskells Crossing, Massachusetts is the site of John Updike's latest where the story begins with Phyllis and ends with Julia. I can't help thinking that this and many of Updike's novels are autobiographical. We have our memories and he has his, but he shares. Like I said it begins with Phyllis and then John shares a tour of Owen's one night stands, his desire and his cock in hand. I read Updike not so much for the story as for the beautiful sentences he writes and once again he delivers. Like this, what a beautiful description. She tugs at him; she twists his head in order to kiss his mouth. But his lips are puffy and numb with sleep, and in his anesthetized state, his nerves misaligned, it feels like an attempt to suffocate him; it rubs him, as people used to say, the wrong way. After a few minutes more of lovestricken fidgeting, white he stubbornly fails to respond, protecting the possibility of returning to his precious dreams, Julia relents and rises from the bed, and Owen gratefully stretching himself into her...

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Posted by Norm at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

More right-wing we know what's best for the rest of you news. Hey Andrea, go fuck yourself. What exactly is it Andrea that is not appropriate for teenagers? Holden Caulfied is in many ways a pretty typical teenager. A little naive, questions authority and thinks his parents are a little touchy. Come to think of it Andrea he was talking about you. Lighten up and I'll retract the go fuck yourself comment. Just kidding. Teen's mom rekindles debate over novel Since its publication in 1951, J.D. Salinger's novel about adolescent angst, "The Catcher in the Rye," has been a regular on the American Library Association's list of most controversial books. The latest debate about the coming-of-age story of 16-year-old Holden Caulfield is playing out at Noble High School in North Berwick. Andrea Minnon of Lebanon said she had never heard of "The Catcher in the Rye" before she learned that it was on her 14-year-old son Spencer's freshman reading list. After researching the book online with her husband, she concluded that it espouses immoral ideas that are inappropriate for freshman-age students. Now she wants it removed from the freshman curriculum....

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Posted by Norm at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)

I've finally finished reading a few books in the last couple of weeks. The Plot Against America is Philip Roth's latest novel. This is the best effort by Roth that I've read in a long time. It has the added bonus of letting you relive the feelings you had just a month ago when George Bush was elected president. The book is a fictional history of World War II America It is 1940 and Franklin Roosevelt is running for re-elction against the isolationist Charles Lindberg who gets the nomination when the Republican convention is deadlocked. Lindberg is elected and the country begins its decent into a fundamentalist christian hell. The story traces the impact of the election on a Jewish New Jersey family. Great characters and a compelling plot line make this a must read. Chance is the book on statistics I posted links to a review earlier. I recently finished reading it and must say that it exceeded my expectations. It was not too simple and it was not too complicated. Goldilocks says it was just right. Highly recommended. The Final Solution is Chabon's latest offering. The story is a homage to Sherlock Holmes but doesn't quite work. The...

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Posted by Norm at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm going to spend the day reading Philip Roth's The Plot Against America Reading is good, reading fiction is better, but if you really need your daily internet fix here are some links you might find interesting. Bring Back Lawn Darts Are You Going to Miss Dan Rather Re-Stock Under God The Zoomquilt In Our Time BBC Radio 4 The Quiet World thanks riley...

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Posted by Norm at 8:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

100 Notable Books of the Year and I haven't read a single title from the list. Damn politics and my lazy ass, I've got to get back to one of life's more important endeavors, reading fiction. Non-fiction you say, nope haven't read any of those either though I have started The Ancestors Tale by Richard Dawkins. update: There's more, another list from the Guardian of notable books from 2004....

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Posted by Norm at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Book lists, oh how I love those lists and here is a particularly cool one from OCLC a worldwide library cooperative OCLC Top 1000 Complete List With cool links by zip code to a library near you. Thanks to Crooked Timber for the links...

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Posted by Norm at 2:25 PM | Permalink

I found this great post at Fallacy Files Weblog a site everyone should have bookmarked. The post explains the different definitions of theory and why it's important in the discussion of Evolution and Creationism. Just the Facts, Ma'am This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered. A suburban Atlanta county has adopted a sticker that is placed on public school textbooks which deal with evolution. A lawyer for the county says that the sticker "provides a unique opportunity for critical thinking." Indeed, the sticker itself provides the first such opportunity. The sticker claims that evolution is not a fact, but a theory. This is the error, frequently made by creationists, of confusing two different meanings of "theory". One is the colloquial meaning, and the other is scientific. In the colloquial sense of "theory", the words "theory" and "fact" are contrary, that is, both cannot be simultaneously true of an idea. So, in this sense, the "theory" of evolution cannot be a fact. However, in the scientific sense of "theory", "theory" and "fact" are not contrary....

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Posted by Norm at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (42)

Checkpoint by Nicholson Baker is a short 115 pages of dialogue between Ben and Jay. Jay is set on assassinating the President. Ben is a voice of reason. Does he succeed? What is reasonable when you have a nut job in the White House in a time of crisis. Does Ben convince Jay not to carry out his plans? Does he join him? Jay: They say, in hushed tones, they say, "some of the Prisoner Have Died." Well, what the fuck? Yes, some have died. Some have been packed in ice and spirited away. But more than ten thousand Iraqis have been killed in this war. It's off the charts. Tanks firing on apartment blocks. Morgues and hospitals filled to capacity, blood splashed on the walls. None of it is secret. It's known, it's been reported around the world for a full year, and yet there's no outrage about that, there's no scandal. What, that? Oh, that's just the war. I mean, standing naked with a hood over your head while a dog barks at your dick, okay, that's horrible, but having a missile hit your house is a hell of a lot worse, because you may be carrying your...

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Posted by Norm at 6:09 PM | Permalink

David Sedaris is a funny man. I enjoy his stories. I read "Me Talk Pretty One Day" some time ago. Recently Apples Music Store had a sale on audio books and I purchased a copy of his "Live At Carnegie Hall" and was reminded that his stories are even better when read out loud. Last night David Sedaris was a guest on the Dave Letterman show, they bantered for a bit Mr. Letterman providing the setups for David Sedaris' humorous anecdotes. The best part however was when he read from his latest book "Don't Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim" a book I recently finished reading and recommend. Here is the Letterman interview a 9 minute 2.1MB mp3 and here is a clip 1 minute and 31 seconds 356K from the Carnegie Hall recording. There are two additional audio excerpts from "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim" at NPR...

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Posted by Norm at 3:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Lichtenberg and the Little Flower Girl by Gert Hofmann translated by Michael Hofmann. You really ought to read this book. It is the best fiction I've read in a very long time. "Lichtenberg laid his book on his middle table. He pushed it around this way and that, until it was lying comfortably.."...

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Posted by Norm at 3:58 PM | Permalink

The following list is making the rounds, and since I'm a real sucker for a list I've joined the fun. The rules: highlight (or bold) everything in the list that you have read, and rejoice in the fact that there are so many good books left to read. The list itself is below the fold so to speak, so click on continue reading if you're interested in what I've read and what I've left to read....

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Posted by Norm at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Do you love to read? I do, and not just the latest bestseller, though I ocassionaly read the book everyone is talking about. I read more fiction than non-fiction. I tend toward the classics of which there are ample to provide a lifetime of reading. I keep a list of what I read. It often provides a point of departure for a discussion of reading with other lovers of the written word. I have discovered new authors and shared my favorites with others enriching the experience for both of us. I was surprised recently when I got an email from Edwin Frank an editor for the New York Review of Books as a result of his finding my list in a google search. I'll just let you read what he wrote. Dear Norm Jenson, I was led to your site by a Google search for mentions of William McPherson's Testing the Current, which I'd just read and admired. I notice you are a fan of Simenon, and I thought that I'd bring your attention to the reissues--in substantially improved translations-- of two of his psychological novels--Dirty Snow (formerly, The Snow Was Black) and Three Bedrooms in Manhattan--in the classics series...

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Posted by Norm at 3:08 PM | Permalink