has 18 followers and is following 32 people
Jim H’s last login was 11 hours ago. « hide recent activity
Jim H has read We3.
Jim H rated Hotel Insomnia yesterday.
Jim H has read Trace-aux-esclaves. (English).
Jim H has read The Confidential Agent.
Jim H rated and reviewed The Beardless Warriors 3 days ago.
“ The Beardless Warriors, written by World War II combat veteran Richard Matheson, follows 18-year-old Pvt. Everett Hackermeyer as he arrives on the western front, in December of 1944, just as the... ” (see full review)
Jim H rated The Hours 4 days ago.
Jim H has read The Infinite Moment: Poems from Ancient Greek (New Directions Paperbook).
Jim H has read Witness : Images of Auschwitz.
“ Pictorial eyewitness account of an artist (the only artist) who survived Auschwitz. Text by his son. ”
Jim H has read Hotel Insomnia.
Jim H added Hotel Insomnia.
Jim H’s last login was 11 hours ago. show recent activity »
Rated 4 stars
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Read the review for The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Read the review for The Plot: The Secret Story of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Rated 2 stars
Read the review for Born on a Blue Day
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I read the one by Mark Harman. It reads very well to me.
Jim, I think Ellen is still reading it. I've finished it and am ready for discussion. How was your reading so far?
I've been plundering your shelf and wanted to say 'thanks' for pointing me toward WG Sebald. I'm starting with Austerlitz, thus the choice of 'plunder'. I feel like I've gotten away with something; like I wasn't supposed to know this writer existed, but in the end I do. What demiurge (or greater) dare find me wanting now? Sebald's on my list! peace from Kiev,Il'ja
Hi, Jim--Are you and Sherry back home? Hope it was a good trip. I'd only tangentially heard the name Amos Oz but he was never on the radar for some reason. But after seeing him on Charlie Rose, I've put in a reserve for Scenes from Village Life, the one he was talking about on the show. Since I haven't read anything he's written and the ideas he expressed on the show rang true, thought I'd start here but could try another one first. Oz just threw off the "taking them into our bodies" at the very end of the discussion, when it came back to talking about his book. Visceral as well as psychological sense...yes, I think so. I hear their voices in my head very clearly, the timbre, and can picture scenes from earlier childhood or much more recent times where they're speaking. And then we get into dreams, where they're also very present and again often speaking. I call them "Mommy dreams" when I'm talking about them with H. Another friend's father died not long before Dad and she says she can't remember what his voice sounds like, suggested that maybe I can because of studying singing for so long. Lovely gift, if so. Makes their passing a little more bearable. Feelings for me are often things I can't articulate and bring lots of frustration in the trying. I didn't make the leap to Holy Communion, but that has a ring of truth to it as well. I'm still mulling over what you've said. Has someone recommended an Oz book to start with? Just curious. I salute you for reading Sontag and Didion. Think Didion is beyond me and probably Sontag, though the "remembering is an ethical act" statement intrigues me. Years ago (and you won't find it on my shelf, that's how little I got out of it or remember), I read Slouching Towards Bethlehem and think I tried Play It as It Lays. Dismal at both. I was intrigued by your Political Fictions review, but a sentence like the one you quoted was so off-putting that I think I'll stick to trying to expand my horizons in other ways with knitting patterns and playing with colors :) After one of the how-to knitting shows on PBS, there's a half-hour show with this guy Bob Ross, where he takes a blank canvas and at the end of the show has produced a wonderful painting. Not something I think I'll do, but I think of Sherry every time I watch it. Absolutely amazing! Speaking of PBS and the MI-5 series you mentioned, I think that by accident I saw the very last one of this season (and haven't seen anything leading up to it or any of the other seasons). The episode was called "Page 8"--did you see it? Really good, I agree! The leaves here are gorgeous, raking not so much fun, though it feels good to get my heart rate up when I do it. We have two Japanese maples and I just love the brilliant red they turn in the fall--don't think have lost a single leaf yet. Lots more to rake! It's great talking to both of you, too! Best to you and Sherry, Leslie
It's twenty years plus since I read it. I admired it more than loved it but would consider rereading at some stage so that's an endorsement I guess. I reread Mrs Dalloway earlier this year which was the first Woolf I've read since college. My favourite at the time was To The Lighthouse.
Hi, Jim--A possibly quick and dirty reply. Had really difficult time getting in to Shelfari last night and again this morning, so thought I'd strike while the iron is hot, as they say (assuming this posts when I click the post box and doesn't double-post :) Anyway, I'm glad that you'd like to read the new Edgerton. I'm about to start the Murakami (my one Shelfari book group is reading it and I'm sure like h--- going to try). Up here in the Nawth, I don't even have to reserve it--seems like there are multiple copies waiting to be checked out.It's really nice to at least feel like reading and talking books again--took a while after Mom died to want to. And speaking of both topics in a round-about way, have you ever read anything by Amos Oz? He was on Charlie Rose on Friday night and said something that struck home to me--that when our parents die, we take them into our bodies and they become a part of us for the rest of our lives. That struck me in a way I can't quite describe, as so true of what I've been feeling lately, that Mom and Dad are almost more a part of my life now than they were when they were alive. Anyway, what he said made me want to try reading him; he has a new collection of short stories. I recently read The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta (sp?) which I enjoyed--An event called the Sudden Departure in the book (takeoff on the Rapture) and focusing on the citizenry in a small town of those who weren't suddenly spirited away. The author plays around with myriad questions of response to sudden loss. I liked it more than I'd expected to. I saw that you're reading something by Susan Sontag; do you like it? I have a hard time with her. Read The Volcano Lover years ago and liked it but tried something else (In America, I think is the title) that just couldn't hold me. Not a whole lot else--I'm glad you're both doing well and it's always great to hear from you and Sherry. Sorry I'm such a delinquent correspondent :( We're looking forward to H. retiring the end of the year (yay!). He's nervous about it but thinking about volunteer things that might interest him. Fall is my favorite time of year, October especially (the month we got married!). We saw the Met live in HD production of Don Giovanni at a movie theater yesterday--terrific! This is one of H's and my favorite operas and this production had uniformly great singing from every member of the cast. We also have tickets for an upcoming Faust with my current favorite tenor, Jonas Kaufmann--gorgeous range, mixes lots of baritone in his voice with a glorious top and falsetto to boot. Enough shop talk! Here's hoping this posts! Take care, best to you and Sherry,Leslie
excuse the double post :(
Hi, Jim--I saw that Clyde Edgerton has a new book out--The Night Train. Sounds like there's a lot about music (and I think jazz, about which I know boo) in it. I remember you said you play an instrument...clarinet? Thought this one might interest you. Anyway, I'm about to tackle the new Murakami take on 1984 (some 900 pages of it) but then want to settle in and read The Night Train. It's in at our library already, always happy news. Hope you and Sherry are enjoying fall. It's lovely here, though a bit muted. Love the crisp air! Take care, Leslie
Yes, and given that many in the coalition were serving under Gaddafi before the possibility of the past biting them is always there. It was a strange mixture anyway - probably too much outside interference to have real internal legitimacy. I'm still not sure how imposing a 'no fly' zone became bombing tanks and suspected Gadaffi residences. (Unless they had flying tanks)It seems to me that countries have little or no respect for International law. If the same countries hadn't been so eager for oil Gadaffi wouldn't have survived half as long as he did.
Hi Jim, Just noticed the Sontag book you have started reading. I just followed a link from a news story and was faced by a pretty disturbing video of Gadaffi's 'capture'. Can't help wishing I'd never seen it while also being strangely fascinated. Her book seems profoundly apt right now.
I read Blood Meridian many years back and it is pretty extraordinary. I seem to remember a similarity in the theme of man as a cursed creature running through it, as in Child of God. McCarthy really is an extraordinary writer. The descriptive force in Child of God is jaw-dropping at times. The vastness that he conjures makes the crimes almost seem petty (which is saying something). The opposite happens in The Road (for me anyway) where the fear of anything happening to the child was made almost too heartbreaking for me to read on.I have a fascination with the violent birth pangs of America which is probably covered better in Blood Meridian than almost anywhere else. It may be due a reread soon.
Hi, Jim--Thanks for the thoughts. We're doing okay, up and down. Some days where life is almost back to normal, others where I have a huge feeling of despair that I just can't cope with the simplest thing. H. is just beyond wonderful. Thanks much also for the Peace recommendation. He created characters who breathed and I could feel their agony, especially Marson's and Asch's. Extremely powerful and really fine, I thought. I found it interesting that George Garrett had told him to write the story; it really read like a recreation of something that he had heard about to me. Garrett wrote another one of my favorite books--The Death of the Fox about the last days of Sir Walter Raleigh. Beautiful. That one I recommend if you haven't read it. I'm on lighter stuff right now, very much enjoying Major Pettigrew and also Arthur Phillips' newest The Tragedy of Arthur. He's an acquired taste, but I like his wry sense of humor. Best to you and Sherry, and thanks to you both for your counsel and friendship--Leslie
Jim--Wonderful! Also got a note from Jane about it; she also enjoyed it (and saw some things he was playing around with that I missed) :( I just loved how he found a way to deal with some dark themes with such a light touch, if that makes sense. Take care, Leslie
Hi, Jim--Just saw your review of The Bacchae. I read it in college and still remember the horror I felt as Agave came to her senses and realized what she had done. if you want to see a more modern take on the Greek gods interfering in lives, you might try The Infinities by John Banville. I liked it very much. Much of the story is told by Hermes. Don't want to spoil it if you think you might read it. I'm liking Peace very much; thanks for this one. Should be reading it in a single setting but can't :( Hope you're managing to get out of the furnace some of the time. What a summer. Take care, Leslie
Jim--I didn't know that she was also quite a photographer until I read your review of her book with photos. Thanks, and thanks also for the Peace recommendation--you've never steered me wrong. I'm sure I'll like it. Hi to Sherry--Leslie
Sorry I missed your note - Yes! I truly love Shaun Tan's work. The first one I read was "The Arrival." Have you seen that one? Incredible.
Hi, Jim--Nice to hear from you. Confused about Dead Certainties, since I haven't read it or rated it. When I call up the book, though, 2 stars show underneath it on its page...hmm. Maybe there's a Shelfari gremlin or thinking even more nefariously, a hacker trying to mess with the site. Hope you and Sherry have been enjoying your spring and now summer. We're hot, too, but are otherwise doing well, especially now that Mom is (mostly) settled in her assisted living dementia care place. I'm very much enjoying The Tiger's Wife and Frayn's My Father's Fortune. Joyce Carol Oates' A Widow's Story was really, really fine. Got Basch's Peace out of the library yesterday, to add to the TBR stack. Thanks for the recommendation. Wanted to ask you if you ever read Eudora Welty's One Writer's Beginnings--if not, I think you would. Hi to Sherry--Leslie
Hi, Jim--Mom moved to her new place yesterday--went very, very well, thank goodness. Email to you and Sherry coming soon. Sorry I've been so flinking quiet! Take care, Lesliel
No idea, but I definitely don't see that - everything on your page looks fine to me. Have you logged out of Shelfari and back in?
