Reading Plan Update

It's time to check on on my reading plan from last year, and monitor the "progress" I've made. My reading plans are always aspirational--but also as always, my desires outstrip my supply of time. I also allow for detours and spur-of-the-moment sidetracks (to quote Michael Dirda's motto: "Read at whim!").

Here's what I had in store as of October of 2015:

Reading Plan (in alphabetical order by author):

some Beaumont and Fletcher [nope!]
Bryson, Bill. A Short History of Nearly Everything [yes!]
Garner, Bryan, and David Foster Wallace. Quack This Way: David Foster Wallace & Bryan A. Garner Talk Language and Writing [nope!]
Gombrich, E.H. A Little History of the World [nope!]
Howlett, Kevin. The Beatles: The BBC Archives [nope!]
James, Henry. The Golden Bowl [nope!]
Knausgaard. My Struggle, books 3-6 [vols. 3-5: yes! Vol. 6 not out yet in English]
some John Le Carré [yes! Russia House and Perfect Spy]
Marias, Javier. Your Face Tomorrow, vol. 2, 3 [nope!]
Peace, David. The Damned UTD and Red or Dead [yes/nope!]
some Philip Roth [nope!]
Rothfuss, Patrick. The Slow Regard of Silent Things [yes!]
William Shakespeare and Others: Collaborative Plays  [yes! Some of them, anyway]
some Zadie Smith (White Teeth, N/R, On Beauty, Changing My Mind) [nope!]
Turow, Scott. Personal Injuries [yes!]
Vollmann, William. Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means [nope!]

plus rereads:
Austen, Jane. Sanditon [nope!]
Calvino, Italo. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler [nope!]
Doyle, Arthur Conan. Sherlock Holmes stories and novels [nope!]
Gaddis, William. The Recognitions [nope!]
Hemingway, Ernest. Sun Also Rises, Farewell to Arms [nope!]
Homer. Odyssey (Pope translation) [nope!]
Milton, John. Paradise Lost [nope!]
Nabokov, Vladimir. Laughter in the Dark, The Enchanter, The Gift, Real Life of Sebastian Knight, The Eye [nope!]
Pynchon, Thomas. Against the Day [nope!]
Shakespeare, William, and John Fletcher. Two Noble Kinsmen [yes, Arden 3rd Series

!]
some Shakespeare from Oxford Original Spelling edition [yes! Two Noble Kinsmen]
Wallace, David Foster. Infinite Jest [yes!]

Well, as you can see, I managed to read less than half of what I set out to. That's not bad! Of course, I won't be carrying over all the unread books to my new reading plan...I've got other fish to fry.

So, here's my new reading plan for the upcoming year--we'll see how this goes.

Reading Plan (in alphabetical order by author):

first time:
Egil's Saga
Howlett, Kevin. The Beatles: The BBC Archives
Jackson, Holbrook. Anatomy of Bibliomania
Knausgaard. My Struggle, book 6 [when it comes out]
some John Le Carré (starting with Secret Pilgrim)
Manguel, Alberto. Reading Pictures
Marias, Javier. Your Face Tomorrow, vol. 2, 3 (plus reread vol. 1)
Munro, Alice. New Selected Stories
Murakami, Haruki. 1Q94
Shi Nai'An. Outlaws of  the Marsh (transl. Shapiro)
some Zadie Smith (White Teeth, N/R, On Beauty, Changing My Mind) 
Stendhal. Charterhouse of Parma
Stendhal. Red and Black

rereads:
Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility
Austen, Jane. Emma
Austen, Jane. Sanditon
Calvino, Italo. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler 
Doyle, Arthur Conan. Sherlock Holmes stories and novels 
some James Ellroy
Faulkner, William. Absalom, Absalom!
Gaddis, William. The Recognitions 
Hemingway, Ernest. Sun Also Rises, Farewell to Arms 
Homer. Odyssey (Pope translation)
Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick
Milton, John. Paradise Lost 
Nabokov, Vladimir. Laughter in the Dark, The Enchanter, The Gift, Real Life of Sebastian Knight, The Eye 
Pynchon, Thomas. Against the Day
more Shakespeare
Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse

Playlist, Week of 2016-11-27

Playlist 2016-11-28:

*Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 14, 17, 21 (Pires)
*Derek Bailey with Min Tanaka: Music and Dance
*Brand X: Unorthodox Behaviour
*Anthony Braxton/Georg Gräwe: Duo (Amsterdam) 1991
*Anthony Braxton and the AIMToronto Orchestra: Creative Orchestra (Guelph) 2007
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet/Quintet (NYC) 2011
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: Unheard Voices
*Mary Halvorson/Reuben Radding/Nate Wooley: Crackleknob
*Roscoe Mitchell: Conversations I
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-11-07 "Other Drummers" (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-11-14 "You Are Worth Waiting For" (wav)
*Bud Powell: Tempus Fugue-It (disc 1)
*Matthew Shipp/Nu Bop: 2004-04-05 Rome (CDR)
*Sun Ra All Stars: Milan, Zürich, West Berlin, Paris (discs 3, 4)
*Cecil Taylor: The Eighth
*Golden Dawn: Power Plant
*Al Green: Anthology (disc 1) (selections)
*Robert Pollard: Not in My Airforce
*Robert Pollard: Waved Out
*UYA: 1990-03-27/04-01 Spill (wav)
*Various artists: That Devilin' Tune (Vol. II,  disc 4)
*Various Artists: Complete Motown Singles (selections)
*Various Artists: WSAM: Some Organ (CDR compilation)
*Various Artists: George Clinton's Family Series (selections)

Reading List, Week of 2016-11-27

Reading List 2016-11-28:

*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 8 (started/finished)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 7 (started/finished)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 6 (started/finished)
*Knutson, Roslyn L. "Theater Companies and Stages," in Early Modern English Drama (ed. Sullivan, Cheney, and Hadfield) (started/finished)
*Wall, Wendy. "Dramatic Authorship and Print," in Early Modern English Drama (ed. Sullivan, Cheney, and Hadfield) (started/finished)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 4 (finished)
*Martin, Judith. Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic Tranquility (finished)
*Gass, William. A Temple of Texts (in progress)

Still at It

thanks to Rodger

Be it established that this pair are pleased to be American and regard themselves as normally patriotic; neither, however, goes in for extended national flag-waving, so often exploited by whatever ruling party to suppress dissent. Both inclining, moreover, to the Liberal persuasion and ipso facto to distrust of their nation's current right-wing administration, they worry that a countrywide orgy of patriotic display will obscure and serve that administration's pre-9/11 agenda, just when its prospects had looked happily dim in the divided Congress. No Kyoto Protocols against global warming for us Yanks, thanks! No Anti-Ballistic Missile or Anti-Landmine treaties or International Criminal Court for us, either; maybe no more Roe v. Wade abortion-rights too, while they're at it, and forget about stricter gun-control legislation and protection of our national parks against corporate predation. Instead, zillions for the futile and counterproductive "Star Wars" missile-defense program and for gargantuan military buildups; even more tax breaks for the very wealthy; huge budget deficits where there had been healthy surpluses, and never mind national health care, Social Security, the environment, and separation of church and state! Et cetera: your Knee Jerk Bleeding Heart Liberals' off-the-shelf nightmare. (John Barth, Book of Ten Nights and a Night, 2004, p. 86)

New Release: Unheard Voices

Rodger just released this archival nugget from way back in 2004: back when strutting in flight suits was all the rage. It's a psychedelic turntable-driven extravaganza of wacky fun sounds, and I'm quite proud of it. Please check it out! Stream or download, for free if you wish, here.

Playlist, Week of 2016-11-20

Playlist 2016-11-21:

*Arnold Schoenberg: Streichquartette I-IV (Arditti Quartet & Dawn Upshaw)
*AMM: 1988-01 BBC Maida Vale Studios (CDR)
*AMM: 2016-11-12 Budapest (wav)
*Anthony Braxton: The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton (disc 6)
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: Unheard Voices
*Chick Corea: The Song of Singing (side 1)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 12 (disc 2)
*Ghaphery/Bivins/Davis: 2006-01-21 Red Room, Baltimore (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House Quartet: 2016-11-12 Wels, Austria (wav)
*Misha Mengelberg, et al. Groupcomposing
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-10-17 "Sounds in Corners" (wav)
*Sun Ra & His Astro-Infinity Arkestra: Sign of the Myth (side 2)
*Sun Ra Arkestra: Live from Soundscape (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: I, Pharaoh (side 1)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Voice of the Eternal Tomorrow
*Sun Ra All Stars: Milan, Zürich, West Berlin, Paris (discs 1, 2)
*Cecil Taylor: 1976-07-28 Cuneo, Italy (Wav)
*Cecil Taylor Feel Trio: Two Ts for a Lovely T (disc 7)
*Return to Forever: Where Have I Known You Before (side 2)
*Airport 5: Life Starts Here
*Bob Dylan: A Nightly Ritual (1966-05-14 Liverpool) (boot CD)
*Guided By Voices: Sunfish Holy Breakfast
*Guided By Voices: Suitcase 3 (discs 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Guided By Voices: Suitcase Four (Captain Kangaroo Won The War) (discs 1, 2, 3, 4)
*King Crimson: Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind (disc 1)
*Lateduster: Five Easy Pieces
*Paul McCartney: Memory Almost Full
*Robert Pollard: Cock Blocking the Romantics
*Praxis: Zürich
*UYA: 1990-03-08/13 Untitled Yams Abounding (wav)
*UYA: 1990-03-13/18 The Simple Void (wav)
*UYA: 1990-03-18: Studies (wav)
*UYA: 1990-03-19 Middle East, Cambridge, MA (wav)
*Various artists: The Telugu Connection (CDR)

Reading List, Week of 2016-11-20

Reading List 2016-11-21:

*Gass, William. A Temple of Texts (started)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 4 (started)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 3 (started/finished)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 5 (finished)
*Murakami, Haruki. Kafka on the Shore (transl. Philip Gabriel) (finished)
*Martin, Judith. Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic Tranquility (in progress)

Extinction

Antonio Rotari (1707-1762) "Ragazza con un libro"

A few years ago, it was treated as self-evident by certain folks that "print," which after all had been around for only 500 years, had no automatic claim on our attention, and that the book would soon be superseded by electronic media. The speakers--usually people who rarely read books--often spoke as if they couldn't wait for this to happen. People who do read books tried not to pay attention, while wondering if they were indeed the unadaptable dinosaur-types they were held to be. ("NB." Times Literary Supplement, 2000-02-11, p. 16)

Book-Love

Marie Bashkiryseff – At a Book

Now, as sales of dedicated e-readers dwindle, ... it’s hard to imagine how we allowed ourselves to get so worked up. But e-readers did teach us something: in their patent inadequacy – in all their slow-loading, thumb-cracking, percentage-bar clunkiness – they showed us how perfect a literary medium the book is. It’s a paradoxical time, one in which the oft-announced death of the book coincides with a new fever of bibliophilia. Book-love is certainly evident in every corner of this volume, and Vincent Giroud’s words are representative: “Holding a book is a pleasure I am not prepared to give up, much in the same way I would not be tempted to ingest my food in the form of tablets.” Clever pun, that. (Adam Hammond, "Books aren't going anywhere--despite the threat of robot sonneteers," The Globe and Mail, 2013-12-21)

Giroud's words come from his essay "A World without Books?" in The Edge of the Precipice: Why Read Literature in the Digital Age? edited by Paul Socken, of which this article is a review.

Playlist, Week of 2016-11-13

Nope, I just snagged the image from ebay. I do not own any Saturn LPs, sad to say.

Playlist 2016-11-14:

*Anthony Braxton: Solo (Brussels) 1985
*Mark Dresser Quintet: Nourishments
*Joseph Jarman: As If It Were the Seasons (side 2)
*Roscoe Mitchell & Thomas Buckner: 8 O'Clock: Two Improvisations
*Sun Ra: Omniverse
*Sun Ra: Beyond the Purple Star Zone
*Sun Ra: Oblique Parallax
*Sun Ra/Merzbow: Strange City
*Cecil Taylor Quartet: Looking Ahead!
*Cecil Taylor: Conquistador!
*Cecil Taylor: 2016-04-23 Whitney Museum, NYC (CDR)
*Animal Collective: Painting With
*Baroness: Yellow & Green
*Beach Boys: Alternates (disc 3) (CDR compilation)
*David Bowie: Nothing Has Changed (disc 2)
*Cream: 1967-10-15 Detroit (CDR)
*Dining Rooms: Do Hipsters Love Sun (Ra)?
*Mike Elder/Harry Forrest/Greg Jordan/Sam Byrd: 2016-10-14 (wav)
*Guided By Voices:Universal Truths and Cycles
*Guided By Voices: Suitcase: Failed Experiments And Trashed Aircraft (disc 4)
*Guided By Voices: Hardcore UFOs (discs 2, 3, 4, 5)
*Guided By Voices: Suitcase 2 (discs 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Robert Pollard: From a Compound Eye
*Prince: Montreux Jazz Festival 2013/From The Soundboard, Vol. 1 (boot CDR) (disc 1)
*Marc Ribot: Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos (The Prosthetic Cubans)
*Todd Rundgren: Liars
*UYA: 1990-03-04 Ubiquitous, Yet After (wav)
*Various artists: Complete Motown Singles 1959-1961 (selections)

Reading List, Week of 2016-11-13

Reading List 2016-11-14:

*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 5 (started)
*Murakami, Haruki. Kafka on the Shore (transl. Philip Gabriel)(started)
*Almond, David. Skellig (started/finished)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 1 (started/finished)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 2 (started/finished)
*The Edge of the Precipice: Why Read Literature in the Digital Age? ed. Paul Socken (finished)
*Hiaasen, Carl. Razor Girl (finished)
*Martin, Judith. Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic Tranquility (in progress)

Sven Birkerts on the Novel

Frantisek Tavik Simon, Vilma reading on a Sofa, 1912

This idea of the novel is gaining on me: that it is not, except superficially, only a thing to be studied in English classes--that it is a field for thinking, a condensed time-world that is parallel (or adjacent) to ours. That its purpose is less to communicate themes or major recognitions and more to engage the mind, the sensibility, in a process that in its full realization bears upon our living as an ignition to inwardness, which has no larger end, which is the end itself. Enhancement. Deepening. Priming the engines of conjecture. In this way, and for this reason, the novel is the vital antidote to the mentality that the Internet promotes. (Sven Birkerts, "Reading in a Digital Age," in The Edge of the Precipice: Why Read Literature in the Digital Age? edited by Paul Socken, 2013, p. 32)

Double Reading

Winslow Homer, The New Novel, 1877

This may be the best description I've seen of what the process of reading literature can be like, so it's worth quoting at length:

The compressed living, communication overload, and fixation on speed dictated by connectivity can activate the memory of an alternative possibility, one which has been lost, but not irretrievably, that of a more organic life rhythm, of communication as a dialogic process, of a more leisurely flow. Such a slower rhythm, shaped through reading literature, allows a space for self-awareness, creates a space in which the reader can reflect on the movements of the reading process as they are played out; in which he can dwell on the flow of the text and reflect on the interplay between text and readerly subject. A kind of double reading is produced, whereby the reader reads the text and reads himself reading it at the same time, which in turn generates reflection at different levels: on the text, on the reading process, on the self as reader and as individual. The slowness enforced by the text can lead to a deepening of self-knowledge, both in terms of the insights suggested by the text and by way of the self-reflection that runs in the background of the reading process like a slowly turning prism. The reader's mind is set free to ruminate and explore, with no predetermined paths. The managerial superego, imposed by a culture which demands productive behaviour and measurable, "useful" outcomes, is suspended in favour of indeterminacy and intuition. A space is opened up in which the reader can experience a lost freedom and unfettered individuality. (Gerhard van der Linde, "Why Read against the Grain? Confessions of an Addict," in The Edge of the Precipice: Why Read Literature in the Digital Age? edited by Paul Socken, 2013, p. 213)

Why I Read More than One Book at the Same Time

James Jacques Tissot, Reading a Story, 1878

Readers know that there are books for reading after lovemaking and books for waiting in the airport lounge, books for the breakfast table and books for the bathroom, books for sleepless nights at home and books for sleepless days on the hospital. No one, not even the best of readers, can fully explain why certain books are right for certain occasions and why others are not. In some ineffable way, like human beings, occasions and books mysteriously agree or clash with one another. (Alberto Manguel, "The End of Reading," from A Reader on Reading, reprinted in The Edge of the Precipice, ed. Paul Socken, 2013, p. 132)

Playlist, Week of 2016-11-06

This quartet is killer: Roscoe, Jodie Christian on piano, Malachi Favors on bass, and the transcendent Steve McCall on drums. I saw a slightly different quartet play "The Flow of Things" in Boston--a show I wish had been recorded!--with Richard Davis on bass and Tani Tabbal on drums in place of Favors and McCall. My god, what a show. I was lucky enough to see Steve McCall in person--once--at the Village Vanguard with Arthur Blythe, doing standards.

Playlist 2016-11-07:

*Muhal Richard Abrams & Roscoe Mitchell: Spectrum
*Borah Bergman and Roscoe Mitchell: The Italian Concert
*Elliott Carter: CDR compilation (disc 2)
*Rodger Coleman & Andrew Dickson: 2016-11-02 Nashville (mp3)
*Elton Dean: Elton Dean
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 12 (disc 1)
*Stan Getz/Charlie Byrd: Jazz Samba
*Gianmarco Liguori: Duga-3
*Roscoe Mitchell Quartet: The Flow of Things
*Roscoe Mitchell and Muhal Richard Abrams: Duets and Solos
*Music Revelation Ensemble: Knights of Power
*Herbie Nichols: The Complete Blue Note Recordings
*Tom Rainey Trio: 2016-07-01 NYC (CDR) (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: Strange Celestial Road
*Sun Ra: Omniverse
*Sun Ra: 1979-08-14 Squat Theatre, NYC (CDR) (disc 1)
*Sun Ra and His Cosmo Jetset Arkestra: 1979-09-28 Ann Arbor (CDR)
*Cecil Taylor Trio: 1975-06-09 Village Gate, NYC (wav)
*Cecil Taylor Unit: 1975-07-25 Antibes (wav)
*Cecil Taylor: 2016-04-14 Whitney Museum, NYC (CDR)
*Third Rail: South Delta Space Age
*David Torn: Prezens
*UMO Jazz Orchestra: UMO Plays The Music Of Muhal Richard Abrams
*John Zorn's Cobra: Live at the Knitting Factory
*John Zorn: Valentine's Day
*Ahleuchatistas: What You Will
*David Bowie: Aladdin Sane
*Carmen Electra: On Top (boot CDR)
*Leslie Garcia: Humming (soundcloud)
*Guided By Voices: Suitcase: Failed Experiments And Trashed Aircraft (discs 1, 2, 3)
*Osanna: Palepoli
*UYA: 1990-02-01 Big Balls (wav)
*UYA: 1990-02-11 Income Evasion (wav)
*UYA: 1990-02-12 Living the Classix (wav)
*UYA: 1990-02-22 (wav)

Reading List, Week of 2016-11-06

Reading List 2016-11-07:

*The Edge of the Precipice: Why Read Literature in the Digital Age? ed. Paul Socken (started)
*Hiaasen, Carl. Razor Girl (started)
*Kiteley, Brian. The 3 A.M. Epiphany (selections)
*Hernandez, Jaime. Locas II (started/finished)
*Hernandez, Gilbert. Luba (finished)
*Munro, Alice. Runaway (finished)
*Martin, Judith. Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic Tranquility (in progress)

A Point of Reading

Sir John Lavery - Miss Auras, The Red Book (ca. 1900)

On the supposed freedom bestowed upon the reader by hypertext:

Coover states that hypertext "presents a radically divergent technology, interactive and polyvocal, favoring a plurality of discourses over definitive utterance and freeing the reader from domination by the author," but his tonal matter-of-factness belies the monumentality of the assertion. This "domination by the author" has been, at least until now, the point of writing and reading. The author masters the resources of language to create a vision that will engage and in some way overpower the reader; the reader goes to the work to be subjected to the creative will of another. The premise behind the textual interchange is that the author possesses wisdom, an insight, a way of looking at experience, that the reader wants. (Sven Birkerts, The Gutenberg Elegies, 1994, p. 163)

Short Stories and Alice Munro

AP Photo/Peter Morrison

...I seemed to have developed some kind of old-geezerish resentment of story collections. Is that possible? Is resentment of short fiction a sign of aging, like liver spots? And if it is, then why? As the end of one's life draws closer, surely one should embrace short fiction, not spurn it. And yet I was extremely conscious of not wanting to make the emotional effort at the beginning of each chapter, to the extent that I could almost hear myself grumbling like my grandmother used to. "Who are these people, now? I don't know them. Where did the other ones go? They'd only just got here." (Nick Hornby, More Baths, Less Talking, pp. 102-103)

I have long shared Hornby's impatience with the short story (long before the "aging" he seems obsessed with); I've always been a big-absorbing-novel kind of guy. But Alice Munro has been making me rethink this notion.