High-Rise by J.G. Ballard
I first read this novel after I saw the initial trailer for the Tom Hiddleston movie version a few years back. I liked it fine. But since then, I’ve read a half dozen or more of Ballard’s novels, and all of his short fiction, and I think I have his wavelength (dear god, right?) quite a bit more now. I liked it a lot more the second time. The novel takes place in a all-inclusive high-rise replete with gyms, grocery stores, and other amenities. If […]
You Can't Take it With You by George S Kaufman and Moss Hart
This is a slapstick and sentimental play from 1936 by Moss Hart and George S Kaufman. Kaufman is most famous for this play, along with co-writing with Hart, Edna Ferber, and Ring Lardner at various times for plays and adaptations. He’s also probably the main character model for Barton Fink. Moss Hart is known writing the book Act One and for being married to Kitty Carlisle. The play begins in a house full of an eccentric family. The mom is a painter! The grandfather says […]
Tonio Kroger by Thomas Mann
Mario and the Magician by Thomas Mann
Tonio Kroger – Tonio Kroger (short for Antonio) is a dark-haired German lad when we begin this novella. We learn soon thereafter that his father is from the far North (Norway it seems) and his mother is from Southern clime (Spain or Italy it seems). In the opening scene, school has just let out and Tonio has had a planned walk home with Hans, a close friend. We find out through Tonio’s anxiety that it looks as it Hans has maybe forgotten the appointment, or […]
Maybe by Lillian Hellman
The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman
Maybe – 3/5 Stars Maybe is a short novella, and possibly the only in Hellman’s career. It’s hard to know exactly what the book is because it’s written as a mini-biography circulating around a specific interaction. Normally I wouldn’t think too much about this distinction but Hellman wrote three quite famous and quite popular memoirs later in her career, so this little book coming out about 10 years later and just two years before she died raises a few small questions. The book itself begins […]
Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw
Saint Joan – 4/5 I don’t know what I actually know about Joan of Arc, and almost all my references points are either the not very good Luc Besson movie “The Messenger” with Mila Jovavich which was interesting in a lot of ways but a failure in many others, from a Simpsons episode, and of course, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. I get the impression that there was a kind of cult of Joan throughout the 19th century (where both George Bernard Shaw and Mark […]
King Lear by William Shakespeare
King Lear – King Lear is often considered Shakespeare’s best play and I guess it just depends on who you ask. Not being old yet myself, I still think it’s Hamlet, but maybe as I get older I will better understand. I definitely think it’s the most relatable play outside of the confines of the theater because there’s two pressing dynamics at play here: parents to children, but also children to parents. And while these might seem the same dynamic, I mean specifically the […]