LIbraryster: the sheet

For the last few weeks it is really one book: Favorite Arias from the Great Operas

Many years ago I played the guitar, bass, and piano. None very well. Unable to play by ear I became frustrated and hit a wall. I stopped playing altogether for a few years. Taking time off has allowed me to unlearn much of what I had learned.

Now I am starting from scratch, and hopefully this will prove successful. I have always been a classicist, but never had a good blueprint for learning to play. I believe I have a good map now. I am learning to sight read on the guitar. These are all songs I know. They are simple and tuneful. The book is timeless. Just read the following description of the Gianni Schicchi aria O Mio Babbino Caro

"The tune is the sweetest and most easily remembered - if not the best - in the opera. Tinpan Alley may be expected to seize on it the moment it goes out of copyright. That, however, will not happen until 1974."

Libraryster: catching up

I had a few items out and returned them without logging them for you. So instead I'll just mention what I have cooking right now:

Anti-intellectualism in American Life - Richard Hofstadter: originally published in 1963, it won a Pulitzer. In some ways it is a humorous book; the arguments that the American right is making about the left are the exact same today as they were in 1963. While I don't agree with all of his arguments, he makes a few fair points. I'm not far into it, but already I don't agree with the sentiments of intellectuals as "aristocrats". That sentiment is perfectly counterpointed in the book Nixonland (a great read by the way); it fueled Nixon's rise to power in his inquisition against Alger Hiss. I'm less than a fifth through, but it is worth a read.

Penguin Island - Anatole France: winner of the Nobel for literature, Anatole was the spiritual heir of Voltaire. He has the same witty and detached sarcasm. The protagonist in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Offshore Pirate read Anatole France and was an "egoist". So now I read it to understand. Pretty good read too.

Thus Spake Zarathustra - Friedrich Nietzsche: in college I felt that Nietzsche was a product of his time. It reminded me too much of other 19th century industrial revolution Germans: Max Weber, Carl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and the like. I felt compelled to read this one because of our times. These days Ayn Rand is the rage, and the most compelling review of Atlas Shrugged I've read was basically "Nietzsche for stupid people". So I will go to the source and read Nietzsche and then Rand and see for myself.

Beethoven - Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage/Choral Fantasy/Rondo/Preludes and Overtures: What can I say? It is Beethoven. It is good. There are early presages of the ninth symphony, so of course it is worth a listen.

Libraryster: the slowdown

The libraryster will become less frequent, as this is my last week of freedom. With that, here are some recent gems:

Raymond Chandler - Farewell, My Lovely His second book, and not bad at all. It is not as good as his first, The Big Sleep, which I highly recommend. It is better than his last, The Long Goodbye. Still, it is a good read.

James Joyce - Exiles Joyce's only play, written between A Portrait of the Artist and Ulysses, it is about Irish exiles and their uncertainty at home. It is a quick read, and for me was worth it as I myself am an exile.

Ivan Turgenev - Home of the Gentry I just started this, but usually enjoy the Russian Romantics, so I have high hopes.

I also had a book of George Hurrell's Hollywood portraits. Oooh pretty pictures.

Finally, all the music this week has been a bust, sadly.