Tracey H’s last login was 14 hours ago. « hide recent activity
Tracey H added The Passport (Masks).
Tracey H added Borges: A Life.
Tracey H added Auggie Wren's Christmas Story.
Tracey H added Nazi Literature in the Americas.
Tracey H added The Perfect Crime.
Tracey H added The Hustler.
Tracey H added Montano's Malady (New Directions Paperbook).
Tracey H added Library: An Unquiet History.
Tracey H now owns 2666: A Novel.
Tracey H rated 2666: A Novel 3 days ago.
Tracey H’s last login was 14 hours ago. show recent activity »
Rated 3 stars
Hi, Tracey. We’re discussing books by Roberto Bolaño athttp://www.shelfari.com/groups/45409/aboutYou’re welcome to be part of the group if you have time. Thanks.
Hi Tracey!Just writing to say a quick hello, and to let you know I haven't forgotten about you.I love Borges' fiction work, and hope to branch out sometime into his poetry and non-fiction. He was a brilliant writer--eloquent and imaginative. I will look for what I have written in my computer files. Yes, it became to unwieldy to try and keep up a journal in-depth while you are there and want to make the most of the time you have actually living it vs. writing about it."Don't Look Now"...that's one I have been meaning to see for a while...from what I recall, wasn't it with Donald Sutherland and kind of an eerie movie?Thanks for telling me more about Bolano--I will try to read some of his stuff, when I get a chance.I am sorry to hear of your grandfather...another consolation that I would propose is with both he and my Dad, that their suffering was relatively brief. I think of those who have an illness that drags on for a year or years, constant struggle and suffering. It gives me a new appreciation and respect for those families who have a loved one with illnesses like Alzheimer's or Lou Gehrig's Disease.Have they resolved the strike yet? :) I just saw "Billy Elliott" (Broadway musical) last weekend, the backdrop of which is the British coal miner's strike of the 1980s, something I'm sure you are quite more familiar with than I.
Dear Tracey,Hmm, well maybe you might like "Ecuador" then...don't let my comments dissuade you. :) Well, it's funny that you say you would like to go to Argentina--I am trying to remember if I have already told you this or not or if it's just coincidence that you mention it...but I was in Argentina in January of 2008. I went there for a wedding in Buenos Aires, and then decided to journey further south (3-4 hour flight) to Patagonia, which was an exhilirating trip. In fact, my profile photo is Patagonia--the mountain in back of me is Cerro Torre, which is usually hidden in clouds (I really lucked out that the day I arrived was a sunny day and the mountain decided to show us its face...by next morning, it was entirely not visible again). BA and Patagonia were two totally different environments; the former, it was stark July-ish summer (they are below the Equator, so summer is January, etc.), so I brought formal attire for the wedding and summer shorts and tees...but Patagonia was cool, and you need to pack outdoorsy, Fall-Winter clothing. Also, the sun did not set until after 11 P.M. the first nights I was there...I thought that was really neat!I did the trek on the Perito Moreno Glacier, the Los Glaciares Park (which has Cerro Torre and the main mountain, Mount Fitzroy or "El Chalten"--I also ran into a puma there while walking alone, but luckily it just quickly turned its head to view me and ran into the brush :) ), and Torres del Paine in Chile, where I made a seriously nerve-wracking river crossing (definitely the scariest moment, for me--runner-up moment was worrying if I would actually have to physically fight my very intoxicated host in Buenos Aires for the keys post-wedding, as he insisted on driving home). I did keep a journal for about half of my journey, but simply ran out of time to keep up with it for the rest of my trip. I wrote the journal in a very matter-of-fact way, so its not very interesting stylistically. If you ever like, I can send you an excerpt, since I typed it already for another friend. I think you would like Buenos Aires--it actually has a European flavor to it, it reminded me somewhat of Spain but with huge, tropical-styled trees looming out over the streets. I have not been to Italy yet--my parents offered me to go with them (on business trips) about 3 times when I was a teenager, but I was too young and stupid back then to take them up on it. When I think of Venice, I think of Thomas Mann...have you read that one? (I'm sure the answer will be yes :) ).I am not familiar with Bolano's 2666, sounds interesting, like sci-fi? So nice to hear about your Grandad...my own father, a man I loved dearly, passed away this year (he became ill around mid-late January, was diagnosed with metastacized cancer in late February, and died on May 1st...it was a big blow for us), and many of my Shelfari friends were actually an incredible source of support through that incredibly difficult time. Dad was also a devout Catholic who loved Gregorian chants...he actually had like a 5-CD set of them. :) Sounds like my Dad and your Grandad would have gotten along marvelously! Well, hoping they are both together, in a better and more peaceful place.Better go to bed now...take care!
Hey Tracey,Thanks for your email...ooh, I hate it when I write a long message and it gets swallowed up in the Internet Charybdis. I guess I was expecting more from "Ecuador", it is kind of a mixture of different form (prose and poetry) and content (writing about the country/people and the problems of the moment, other times more abstract musings), I think I wanted something that would gel together a bit more. Also, he doesn't seem particularly enthused about the country or its people. I guess he gets an "A" for honesty, but...Still, I managed to write down some interesting places mentioned (I am highly interested in traveling, and would love to go there and to the Galapagos one day), and would still consider his other works (especially the traveling ones). Hope to finish Kertesz this weekend; I'm not optimistic that I'll like "Kaddish" any more for the remaining half, but who knows. I think the translation is pretty decent, I can understand what's being said--it's more the narrator doesn't say anything all that compelling to make you invest in listening to him.Congrats on getting the Greyhound bus! You are more than welcome to steal my ascetic wedding idea--I want to see if anybody's actually crazy enough to implement it! No, no weddings lists, only Gregorian chants. "Weddings should be a time of penance!" [fearful looks of family and friends] :)
P.S. Seeing your 'Non-Traditional Wedding' book makes me think of a joke of mine. I was invited and went to about 8 or 9 weddings in the course of a year and a half not too long ago. I'm not a wedding person to begin with, and having had my fill of all the usual suspects (in terms of marriage rituals), I now threaten my friends that when I get married I'm going to insist upon an 'ascetic wedding.' My instructions are: "there will be no food, no wine, no music, no dancing, and most of all no talking. We will kneel upon a stone floor in sackcloth and commence with meditative prayer." :) :)
Hey Tracey,Just dropping a quick line to say Hi (while I can ha ha). :) Hope all is going well...things are going good over here, it was a beautiful day out today, so perfect weather to bask in the autumn sun and read. Henri Michaux's "Ecuador"--not as great as I was hoping it would be. I am reading Kertesz' "Kaddish for a Child Not Born" but am having trouble appreciating it--it's a first person narrative that just seems to ramble on and on.What's new with life in Portsmouth? All the best, Joe
Live your life so that the fear of death can never enter your heart. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light. Give thanks for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. And if perchance you see no reason for giving thanks, rest assured the fault is in yourself.Chief Tecumseh, Shawnee Indian Chief
Dear Tracey,Okay, great! To chat casually is what we'll do, then, no pressures. :) So, it sounds like the UK is similar to how it is here in the US right now. I am glad to hear that you are on fortunate ground--you seem like a really good person thus far that I have known you, and so I am happy that you are doing okay. Tell me more about what you find yourself writing about.Liztomania...I remember reading one review of it in a book where the reviewer said something to the effect of "the only time I have ever questioned a director's sanity." :) I have seen it multiple times, actually, and once wrote out "the plot" to send to an inquiring friend...it was even more funny reading it in type. Ah, well, I'll have to go back sometime and watch Tommy again (it's been a long, long while). Thanks for explaining the fire to me; 500K worth of damage for the 1970s must have been quite a penny for a film budget, I would think. I was thinking of Keith Moon the other day...the story about how The Who were late to get to the airport, and were riding to make it to their flight, but Keith Moon says "We've got to go back! I've forgotten something. We've got to go back!!!" So, they return to the hotel, and he tells the driver to wait. He comes back down 10 minutes later, and they head off again, and they ask him to explain. "I forgot to smash the television set!" :)After tomorrow, I am heading off to San Francisco for the next week. Take care, and be in touch! :-)Joe
Hey Tracey,Sorry for my late response (right now things are busy--just got back from a dinner with friends that went late--but I promise I'm usually good at responding to notes...eventually). Thank you, it is nice to be reading regularly again after so long away. I have been subdued on this site lately, as I'm taking a reading-breather.Best wishes on the job hunt--may I ask, is there an economic downtown in the U.K. as there is currently in the U.S.? Anyway, you strike me as a positive and a hard-working person, so I'm sure you'll find something good and deserving of your intelligence. I think the key is to not give up. I didn't know "Tommy" was filmed in Portsmouth, too. Well, Ken Russell is of course an acquired taste...I think I am still traumatized from watching "Lisztomania" ha ha...I describe that one as "not a movie to directly watch oneself, but a movie to show one's friends just to watch the reactions on their face." I am not familiar with the fire on South Parade Pier...I could look it up, but why don't you tell me instead, it will be more interesting that way. :)Waterfire is indeed a nice city event, they hold several throughout the summertime (either full or partial lightings), it's "something to do" when one has relatives visiting, or else just a casual, low-intensity way to spend the evening, walking around with friends...Best, Joe
Hey Tracey,I read for pleasure, and went many years without reading...only got back into it in the last several years (I work as a clinical psychologist, so for many years it was reading what I had to read, instead of what I wanted to). Shelfari has been such a positive experience for me, and again I am quite impressed at your shelf.I am a big music geek, and when I think of Portsmouth (I didn't know that's where Dickens was born!), I think of the "Portsmouth Sinfonia"--don't know if you have heard of this, it was a project involving Gavin Bryars and Brian Eno in the 1970s, an orchestra comprised of either non-musicians or musicians playing unfamiliar instruments, and they would learn popular classical music pieces and then play them with their all-novice glory. Do you work in a literature-related field?I live in Rhode Island, in New England. I have lived on the East Coast most of my life, except for Seattle for 5 years (where I got my doctorate). RI isn't really too much to write home about (relative to other places to live in the US), but it's got Providence (the capital; decent town with Brown University), Newport (a nice seaside town, famous for its mansions, jazz and folk festivals). One event in Providence that draws a lot of people is the Waterfire, where they light the canal in the heart of the city up with floating bonfires:http://www.waterfire.org/about-waterfire/welcomeAlso, RI is right in the center of a lot of other cool destinations: Boston and Cape Cod in Massachussetts (both about an hour away), New Hampshire/Vermont (hiking, skiing, etc.) to the north, and NYC is about three hours to the south.
i was searching books by Eric Hobsbawm and i found you a reader. i visited you shelf and found an impressive collection of books like Lenin's Imperialism the highest phase of Cap, Age of Extremes, books authored by Alex Callinicos, Freud, Engels. its really exciting to visit your shelf. hope we can be friends and share views.
P.S. If you're wondering, I came across your page via Susan Sontag's "Regarding the Pain of Others" (I just finished reading it this morning)...I hope also to read her "Illness as Metaphor" soon.
Hi Tracey, thanks! :) I am thinking that you must have studied literature and/or philosophy (or are you just a voracious pleasure-reader)? Also, what is Portsmouth like? Anyway, look forward to talking more, and hope you will like my shelf, too... Best, Joe
do you go through a phase wehn you read only one type of book or do you read different kind of book at the same time?
dear Tracey, Oh girl of great literature, you are the most welcome in my group and at my page always and ever. i love literary people very much.I am a writer of a great book named " The Unfathomable Vastness of God""which is a great book indeed.you are the most welcome here and there.regards, yours, khan.waiting!!!!!!!!!!!!!peace to all.""
Hi,I'm so impressed by your book shelf.You have read so many books.Have you enjoyed reading The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie?It's on my list to read...Take care!
