Saturday, March 27, 2004
Book #44
Gaston Leroux
Phantom of the Opera
Begun: March 27, 2004
Finished:
A few weeks ago, on my regular blog, I asked for recommendations on books I could read. You know. Despite the fact I have several dozen books at home I could be reading, none of what I had looked all that interesting.
I got several good suggestions.
Yesterday, I started reading a book Danielle, of Missives Anonymous, suggested: Phantom of the Opera.
I've never seen the stage version. There was a school trip to see the production which I couldn't attend. Other than the parody that the TV Show Alf did of the show, I actually know very little about the story.
I'm just a few pages in. We'll see how it goes.
(Note: It's been a while. I took this book with me to my folks' house a month ago, and left it up in my old room. I'm going next weekend, so I'll pick it up from there....)
Gaston Leroux
Phantom of the Opera
Begun: March 27, 2004
Finished:
A few weeks ago, on my regular blog, I asked for recommendations on books I could read. You know. Despite the fact I have several dozen books at home I could be reading, none of what I had looked all that interesting.
I got several good suggestions.
Yesterday, I started reading a book Danielle, of Missives Anonymous, suggested: Phantom of the Opera.
I've never seen the stage version. There was a school trip to see the production which I couldn't attend. Other than the parody that the TV Show Alf did of the show, I actually know very little about the story.
I'm just a few pages in. We'll see how it goes.
(Note: It's been a while. I took this book with me to my folks' house a month ago, and left it up in my old room. I'm going next weekend, so I'll pick it up from there....)
Book #43
Clive Barker
Abarat
Begun: March 12, 2004
Finished:March 29, 2004
Listening to the unabridged book on tape.
Somebody who will remain nameless called this cheating. But you actually pick up more of the book when you listen to an unabridged reading, because you don't have to contend with your eye being lazy and skimming over a word or rushing through particularly wordy passage--something that happens to me sometimes, especially if I'm reading before I go to sleep. But if the words are being read to you, you are forced to listen. So you pick up on little details, sometimes, that might go unnoticed with a reading.
Which is not to say one is better than the other. Only that if you're listening intently, it's not cheating.
As for the book itself, it's going well. Barker's books, those that I've read, tend to juxtapose innocence and absolute good in his heroes with the world of the dark and the horrifically grotesque in his villains. If not for a lot of the really intense imagery in his books, he'd be a pretty good kid's writer. Which is not to discount the couple of kids' books he's written.
Clive Barker
Abarat
Begun: March 12, 2004
Finished:March 29, 2004
Listening to the unabridged book on tape.
Somebody who will remain nameless called this cheating. But you actually pick up more of the book when you listen to an unabridged reading, because you don't have to contend with your eye being lazy and skimming over a word or rushing through particularly wordy passage--something that happens to me sometimes, especially if I'm reading before I go to sleep. But if the words are being read to you, you are forced to listen. So you pick up on little details, sometimes, that might go unnoticed with a reading.
Which is not to say one is better than the other. Only that if you're listening intently, it's not cheating.
As for the book itself, it's going well. Barker's books, those that I've read, tend to juxtapose innocence and absolute good in his heroes with the world of the dark and the horrifically grotesque in his villains. If not for a lot of the really intense imagery in his books, he'd be a pretty good kid's writer. Which is not to discount the couple of kids' books he's written.
Book #42
Ingmar Bergman
The Seventh Seal
Begun: March 23, 2004
Finished: March 23, 2004
I found an old tattered copy of Bergman's screenplay in a used bookstore. I just like comparing the concept with the finished product. So I'll have to watch the movie again at some point. Haven't seen it in four or five years.
I'm impressed with how prose-like the text of the play works out on the page. Very descriptive stage/screen directions. The imagery pops from the page into the mind (and to the screen) amazingly easily.
Ingmar Bergman
The Seventh Seal
Begun: March 23, 2004
Finished: March 23, 2004
I found an old tattered copy of Bergman's screenplay in a used bookstore. I just like comparing the concept with the finished product. So I'll have to watch the movie again at some point. Haven't seen it in four or five years.
I'm impressed with how prose-like the text of the play works out on the page. Very descriptive stage/screen directions. The imagery pops from the page into the mind (and to the screen) amazingly easily.
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Book #41
Lowell Reidenbaugh, writer/Joe Hoppel, editor
Cooperstown: Where Legends Live Forever
The Sporting News/Gramercy: 1999
Begun: March 1, 2004
Finished: March 21, 2004
Just a capsule look at the folks in Baseball's Hall of Fame. It was an old Christmas present. I've made it my bathroom reading.
Lowell Reidenbaugh, writer/Joe Hoppel, editor
Cooperstown: Where Legends Live Forever
The Sporting News/Gramercy: 1999
Begun: March 1, 2004
Finished: March 21, 2004
Just a capsule look at the folks in Baseball's Hall of Fame. It was an old Christmas present. I've made it my bathroom reading.
Book #40
David Mamet
On Directing Film
1991: Penguin Books
Begun: March 11, 2004
Finished: March 12, 2004
Mamet's discussion on storytelling and imagemaking, as it pertains to the medium.
Very little cursing.
But that's my only complaint. All in all, one of the more informative reads I've had in a while.
David Mamet
On Directing Film
1991: Penguin Books
Begun: March 11, 2004
Finished: March 12, 2004
Mamet's discussion on storytelling and imagemaking, as it pertains to the medium.
Very little cursing.
But that's my only complaint. All in all, one of the more informative reads I've had in a while.
Book #39
Tom Robbins
Villa Incognito
Begun: March 4, 2004
Finished: March 21, 2004
I really didn't like this one. More thoughts later. It's preachy, and it seems to think it's a bit funnier than it actually is. I didn't give up on it. I probably should have.
Tom Robbins
Villa Incognito
Begun: March 4, 2004
Finished: March 21, 2004
I really didn't like this one. More thoughts later. It's preachy, and it seems to think it's a bit funnier than it actually is. I didn't give up on it. I probably should have.
