Ausonius

We are watching Glee: and Jane Lynch, who plays the evil cheerleading coach, is stealing the show again!

I only am allowed - by the Imperial High Command - to read one book at a time! Since we are both teachers, who could open a school with just us as faculty, and since I have many more books than my wife (i.e. the Imperial High Command), our "vast archives" have reached a point where, if I buy a book, I have to take one out of the house to school, or give it away, or throw it away! So my classroom is fairly full of books! Moral: Beware when bibliophilia leads to bibliomania!

I can recommend Kleiner Mann, Was nun? (Little Man, What Now?) which was a best-seller in English in the 1930's. All of his works are well worth your time: his life was a mess after age 16, but his writings apparently gave him some order from the chaos. Fallada's style in German is highly intricate at times, conveying an ironic self-critical attitude. When I taught German, I used to read Damals Bei Uns Daheim (not yet published in English: "Long Ago With Us At Home") with my classes in German III and IV: it was one of the funniest books ever! Yes, a funny book, written by a German!

Although the author was Polish, Jan Potocki wrote in French one of the greatest novels in any language: Manuscrit trouv

Alexander Theroux reviewed a biography of crime novelist Patricia Highsmith in the Wall Street Journal today (Dec. 8, 2009). http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704342404574578883873972014.html The biography is by Joan Schenkar and is given a very positive recommendation by Mr. Theroux. Highsmith is best known for Strangers On A Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley. The former was made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock, the latter by Anthony Minghella starring Matt Damon. Two excerpts:

I came across this book recently: just published last month. Highly recommended for adults as well as teenagers. Why Begins With W. From an on-line review at "The Good Music Guide": "I recently finished Why Begins With W. Great fun! Doubt that most references would be picked up by the average teen. I especially liked the androgynous Patrick MacGoohan narrator and the plot development of unblossoming; very Agatha Christie. Indeed, half way through I thought the author might even be going for a Murder on the Orient Express finish, where a clique of jealous upperclasmen kills (the victims). The (...) twist was unseen, but totally justified in restrospect. Excellent story. Hope it catches on. Will leave a review on Amazon soon." I am not sure what the reviewer means by a "Patrick McGoohan" narrator: the narrator refuses to divulge his/her gender to the reader. There are clues both ways, which is part of the fun in the book. I assume it might be a reference to McGoohan's famous TV series The Prisoner.

The curiously named Why Begins With W deals with a serial killer (maybe - the police think it is a murder/suicide) in a high school. Check out how freaky the cover is: Available from Amazon. There is also a website: www.TimeCapsuleMurders.com

Do you mean the introduction by Theodore Ziolkowski? Or the "introduction" after the Latin translation? In either case, without a context, the best I can say is that "Das Wenige" can translate as "the little amount" or "the few things." Best Wishes!

Many thanks for your comments! Concerning the "Beichtvater" story at the end of Das Glasperlenspiel: the term could be translated as "Father Confessor," i.e. a priest to whom one as a Catholic confesses as part of the Sacrament of Reconciliation/Penance. Castalia is meant to be somewhat ironic: a non-poetic society named after the muse of poetry. More later!

Allow me gently to correct the spelling of the state in Hesse's novel: "Castalia." Castalia is the name of a Greek nymph who threw herself into a well to avoid the "attentions" of Apollo. She becomes a patron of poetry. Many thanks for founding this topic! This has been one of my favorite books: the first English translation was given a Latin title: Magister Ludi, which translates as "Master of the Game." But this also has a double meaning, since the word can mean a "school," which of course is important in the novel. There have been attempts to create the Glass Bead Game, although Hesse provides just enough clues that you cannot really play such a game without assuming a few things. Some webpages from the late '90's have attempts at creating a Glasperlenspiel: http://www.corewave.com/ http://home.earthlink.net/~hipbone/Grail.html

Amen! The Hobbit is the best of the Lord of the Rings books, although technically not part of the trilogy. The books become worse as you head through them, with the style becoming turgid and the action repetitive. Following Hitchcock's rule which I mentioned above, the movies were much better.

Also fairly new here, and this is a great topic: Alfred Hitchcock had a rule that great books make poor movies, since a movie can never be on the same level as a great book ideationally. The audience therefore would always find the movie lacking. But a weak book, he believed, might have cinematic possibilities. As a result, he usually took books (e.g. Psycho) which were potboilers and turned them into classic movies. One can debate how "weak" a book like Strangers On A Train might be. And in some cases - in his later years - he took potboilers (e.g. Topaz) and made a bad movie from a mediocre book. One great movie from a book which I found to be disappointing: Doctor Zhivago. Boris Pasternak's novel I found lacking in the psychological complexity found in the movie by David Lean. In the book, Zhivago has clearly forsaken his wife for Lara. In the movie, you see Zhivago as a more tortured figure who is clearly in love with 2 women simultaneously, leading him to ruin.

These are Nepalese musicians celebrating the birthday (July 7) this year outside the palace of King Gyanendra. One of the happiest "sounding" pictures ever!

We are watching The Namesake about Indian immigrants to America in the 1970's. It has Kal Penn formerly of House, M.D. Great scene where the new immigrants' baby is named "Gogol" after the Russian author!

Chevy Chase on the roof! And then the power outage for the whole town!

About 15 years ago an author named Sophy Burnham wrote "A Book of Angels" which became a New York Times Best Seller. It is available on Amazon - new - for as little as 41 cents.

The Assignment by Friedrich D

Freud is in the background for Wedekind with the theory of repressed sexuality causing neurotic and destructive behavior. Today of course, with neurochemistry dominant in psychiatry, Freud's theory is not all that important any more, but in culture he is still rather influential. Wedekind has two other plays (Erdgeist ("Earth Spirit") and Pandoras B

My emphasis above: Right! Another fine TV show on that basis is The Big Bang Theory about Physics graduate students and their frugal apartment-pizza life-styles. The main character on that show, Sheldon, idolizes Patrick Stewart!

There was a great TV show on in America called My Name Is Earl which dealt with incompetent denizens at the bottom of society. "Earl" is played by Jason Lee whose character, a petty thief and all-around screw-up, has had a revelation after winning a lottery, and then immediately getting hit by a car and ending up in the hospital! On a TV show he sees while recuperating he learns about Karma. Earl makes a list of all the bad things he has ever done, and decides to undo everything, so that Karma will not pay him back with a ruined life. The characters around Earl and the naive, incongruous commentary on Life are very funny. We have been watching DVD's of the first season: highly recommended.

In spite of "Perfume" please give Patrick S

One can debate the implicit criticism of the religious life found in the book, but Hermann Hesse's Narcissus and Goldmund is one of the best evocations of the chaos of medieval life, and of life in general. Hesse himself was often at odds with authority figures in his life, and (obviously) believed in ignoring the advice of elders in favor of experiencing things first-hand, rather than avoiding or doing certain things as recommended by parents or others. Hesse is somewhat out of fashion perhaps: he was bigger 40 years ago, and certainly Demian and Siddhartha were first choices back then. But Narcissus and Goldmund is the stronger book.

German author Patrick S