Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Who's hungry for a cyber-stew on tell-a-friend Thursday?
Don’t feel bad Mickey. I think I’ve only read two or three books on that list myself. More important: that list is a bad idea. But while we’re on the subject: give Roth’s The Plot Against America a go. Curious what you’d think.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 05/25 at 05:39 AMI haven’t read a single one of those books. Currently reading The Perculiar Memories of Thomas Penman by Bruce “Withnail & I” Robinson. Only a few chapters in but its bloody funny.
I can’t decide which is my favourite french grafitti, maybe this one: “3,000,000 à marcher, rien ne bouge! 300,000 à bloquer...? Rejoignez-nous!” ("3,000,000 people march, nothing happens! But if 300,000 people block...? Join us!")
Posted by mew on from great street of portland stone 05/25 at 06:39 AMGood morning Mickey and Mew. Mew, I like that, “...But if 300,000 people block...”
Keir...I just checked last night’s comments. Thanks for putting a big smile on my face this morning with this one.
“Natalie Maines is one of those people born middle finger first.”Mudge....you have to come up here fast. The weather has changed. We can now put away the snow shovels. The air is filled with the scent of lilacs. Everything is lush and fertile. The Green Mountains are now clothed in their majestic beauty. This is the time of year that they call it paradise up here. Hurry ! It doesn’t last very long.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 05/25 at 06:56 AMI forgot to say… about American Fiction...the first thought that came to my mind was “The 9/11 Commission Report”.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 05/25 at 07:27 AMThis is good.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 05/25 at 07:40 AMRMJ, that flurrying sound you hear is me packing...don’t I wish...things are back to complicated re: car, and I just wish I could hop on the train and GO like I could when I lived on Maiden Lane. If I had a j-o-b there, I’d hie me hence to Manhattan ASAP. I wish my former client who works at HBO would hire me.
The NYTBR list of 25 (arbitrary number, that) best books of the past quarter-century is uninteresting to say the least. Beloved is a good book...Confederacy of Dunces is, IMHO, a far better one and will be read by our various grandchildren (assuming they are compelled to read then) in their college lit classes. But there you have the silliness of this list...it’s made up of opinions, and consensus opinions at that. When the time comes that the Canon is opened to literary products of this era, who’s to say that ANY of these books will make it? Moby-Dick wouldn’t have made this list in 1875, for books of that past quarter century. Now merely saying “Captain Ahab” gives the literate a picture of a character and is part of the cultural furniture.
Keir, The Plot Against America being ON the list was a shock to me, until I saw that Philip Roth’s works entire seemed to be on there. I like its sub-genre and appreciate its many merits, but wow! Best books of the last 2 years? Hmmm.
Hi Mew! Thanks for the tip re: “Withnail & I” creator’s new book. Off to procure it.
Ummm, MZ, what may I ask is the new and seemingly ongoing fascination with sheep? Or is this something I don’t really want to know...?
Posted by Mudge on from Austin 05/25 at 08:16 AMLoved Confederacy of Dunces! Have never been to New Orleans-- but always felt like an honorary citizen after reading that book (which is set there)-- maybe also an honorary, but better inoculated (wiser?) citizen of John Kennedy Toole’s peculiar form of madness. Maybe that partially explains why I love listening to Guitar Gabriel: http://tinyurl.com/r4lmc
(requestable at Whole Wheat Radio: http://tinyurl.com/mvywwPhilip Roth-- will be featured at KQED next Monday:
http://tinyurl.com/4c5jqA fascinating program from there yesterday… Dan Gilbert on Happiness: http://tinyurl.com/nx3n5
Like your post Keir!
Best to all.
Posted by Robert B. Livingston on from San Francisco 05/25 at 09:00 AMthink they like philip roth?
i’ve read most of those, and let me tell you, you’re not missing much.
it’s completely disingenuous for them to make a list like that and leave philip dick off of it, considering that everybody in their industry is now recycling his ideas for a living.
i’d take anything by j.k. rowling ahead of that entire list.
Posted by tris mccall on from jersey city, new jersey 05/25 at 09:21 AMthe only one i have read is beloved as it happens, and that was cos i had to because of uni
anyway, i loved the french graffiti and in that vein could i please URGE everyone to rent a movie called ‘la haine’ (the hate) which was made a few years ago about the paris riots in the early nineties and will blow away anyone who watches and also give them a great insight into what has been going on there
Posted by michael on from exile 05/25 at 10:15 AMÀ bas les slogans.
Down with slogans.Posted by JOS on from Chicago 05/25 at 10:38 AMInstead of:
Cessons d’être raisonnables.
Let’s stop being reasonable.this:
Cessons d’être expendables.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 05/25 at 10:41 AMHello Expendables. For some reason, I’m not receiving e-mail notifications when comments are posted today. So, I’m way behind.
Glad to see the French graffiti is catching on. From the first time I read about Guy Debord, situationism, and the May 1968 French protests, I’ve been taken by this concept.
Too much to comment on for “now” but I must say I love RMJ’s definition of “American fiction.” And Mudge, my interest in sheep should be apparent from all my writing about propaganda and the American mind.
Be back soon…
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 05/25 at 10:51 AMI´ve read the three DeLillos, the Raymond Carver, some of the Denis Johnston stories in anthologies and half of the Toni Morrison. Confederacy of Dunces is my favourite there tied with White Noise, though the 911 report is funnier. I read one Philip Roth and, uh, that´s it, didn´t impel me to pick up another.
Posted by owen on from barcelona 05/25 at 11:38 AMNew Roy interview:
http://alternet.org/story/36643/
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 05/25 at 12:22 PMSome stuff on the US military and homosexuality from me today. Yeh I know Hicks says “Anybody DUMB enough”...
re tell-a-friend - I introduced my Ma to mickeyz today. Now there’s an idea.
Posted by Uncle Joe on from 10 miles away from Mews snugglehouse (Mew has gone 05/25 at 01:53 PMI don’t unnerstan what everyone has against Philip Roth...but as long as we’re talking about fine novels written in the terrortory between Mexico and Canada in the last 25 years, Dave Eggers prolly should be mentioned.
Only in France would one find graffiti like this: Our irrevocable death is the frenetic aim of spectacular time. Fun!
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 05/25 at 03:26 PMMe again. Welcome back, Uncle Joe (and yer ma, too). When it comes to gays in the military, Hicks sure had it nailed.
Hey Owen, JOS, and Keir.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 05/25 at 03:31 PMI haven’t read any of those books on that list either. I did read Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, I didn’t read Beloved but I saw the movie. I wonder if any of the writer judges suggested their own work for best fiction.
graffiti, i like these:
La poesía contra la policia!
Fight the police with poetry!Le moi est une prison.
The ego is a prison.’Y a pas de méchants casseurs, ’y a pas de gentils manifestants, ’y a que des jeunes qui ont la rage.
We are neither vicious hoodlums nor polite demonstrators; we are simply young people filled with rage.Venezuela Angry At Computer Game: http://tinyurl.com/o5stx
Posted by tm on from 05/25 at 04:47 PMLike you, TM, I’ve read The Bluest Eye (and liked it) and yeah, this bit of graffiti stood out, too:
Fight the police with poetry!Hey RMJ, have you seen this:
http://tinyurl.com/oj362Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 05/25 at 04:50 PMI say like Keir: ‘Don’t feel bad, Mickey’ - I think I have only read ‘Independence Day’ by Richard Ford on that list. I for one think that his ‘Sportswriter’ and especially his short stories are much better btw.
And thanks for the rest of the post - graphics, quotes, links - the lot!
A cool but sunny late autumn day is dawning in Daylesford: about 60F, so not too bad really.
And a warm welcome to Keir, Mew, Rosemarie, Mudge, Robert B. Livingston, Tris McCall, Michael, JOS, Owen, Uncle Joe and tm - phew! Quite a few expendables today ..
Ciao amici.Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 05/25 at 04:59 PMHi everyone...Hey Mickey, thanks for that link. I had not seen it. It always makes me smile when someone quotes me. Churchill deserves a lot more support than he has been getting, not only because he is right but because it is very difficult to be under attack. That is a burden that no one should have to carry alone. I know that there is no comparison between WC and the Dixie Chicks but anyone who is threatened with death or other harm because they speak out should be supported. Right?
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 05/25 at 06:29 PMLeft.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 05/25 at 08:06 PMCorrect, as Keir points out, hurts less to say than “r---t” so let’s adopt it.
Tiring day. Off to an early accouchment with The Lost Gods of Britain and a warm lad.
Ciao
Posted by Mudge on from Austin 05/25 at 08:43 PMYou are too funny, Mudge! ‘Off to an early accouchment with The Lost Gods of Britain and a warm lad’ - I love that!
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 05/26 at 03:46 PM
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