June 18 to June 23, 1976 I read:
SF Author's Choice, Harrison, Ed.
David Meyer Is a Mother, Gail Parent
I don't remember this book. Even reading a short description of it didn't bring anything back, except a vague memory of also having read Parent's Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York, and I understand this author has written for television and movies, including 2004's Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. It's always good to hear that someone who 30 years ago was writing comic novels (and evidently proto-typical chick lit--who knew?) is alive, writing and evidently thriving--I tend to assume that people who write movies are thriving, call it jealousy if you will, because that would be accurate.
Laughing all the Way, Barbara Howar
Milton Berle, an Autobiography, Milton Berle with Hashell Frankel
My note in '76 was: engagingly honest.
The book made enough of an impact on me with its vaudeville reminiscences and candid personal revelations that I remember many of the anecdotes to this day--particularly the more graphic ones--with an odd kind of affection. I think that's the larger-than-life charm that Berle was able to put across in his performances as well.
By contrast the Barbara Howar autobiography above was much more zipped and buttoned up, and I can't remember any part of it. Of course, the double standard flourished a lot more 30 years ago and unabashed candor was an even more risky action for females then.
Rhythms of Vision: Changing Patterns of Belief, Lawrence Blair
My note was: dense as hell. Someone called it "lyrical" on the jacket--unintelligible would be more apt.
Interestingly, I did quite enjoy the PBS-broadcast documentary Ring of Fire, following Lawrence and his brother Lorne Blair's 10 years of exploration in Indonesia. There's a book of that entitled Ring of Fire: An Indonesian Odyssey. I'd be interested in reading that book.
I might be just as impatient with mystical speculation now as I was 30 years ago, but I had an instant, visceral reaction when I thought, "should I perhaps re-read Rhythms of Vision? That reaction was--"No!" Perhaps the Ring of Fire book appeals because there's a story instead of metaphysical speculation (urk!)
Universe 6, Carr
June 18 to 24, 2006 I read:
The Last Hero, Terry Pratchett
This is the first large-sized, illustrated Pratchett I've read. Paul Kidby's color illustrations have their own wit, notably the sepia-toned Da Vinci notebook style invention notes and sketches and "Mona Lisa" of Leonard of Quirm, and portraits of Cohen, the Barbarian and his geriatric Silver Horde, on one final rampage with the mission of returning fire to the gods (thereby ending the world). Hot on their trail, in Leonard's brilliant, if unpredictable, dragon-powered rocket is a contingent from Ankh-Morpork's City Watch and Unseen University's wizards trying to save to save Discworld.
This is an unusually short Discworld book--160 pages--a great many of which are the illustrations. At 40,000 words it's called a "Discworld Fable" rather than a full novel
Even though it was shorter than the usual Pratchett books, and I'm not the most visually inclined audience for the graphic enrichment, I enjoyed it. And the review on Amazon.com was by Donald E. Westlake--wow! I admire Westlake a lot and it was good to know that he's a Pratchett enthusiast.
Gail Parent
Paul Kidby
Terry Pratchett
Lawrence Blair
Lorne Blair
Indonesia
Ring of Fire
Discworld
Hashell Frankel
Barbara Howar
WestlakeMilton Berle
Lynne Murray
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