I used to read orchestral scores for my music degree. It was informative but definitely benefited by later seeing/hearing a performance.
Not having read it, how would I know? I suppose the references to Hamlet and Waiting for Godot could have been a clue. But apparently the Ryan North isn’t a play.
I liked the idea of how Communications of the ACM printed (prints? I haven’t read one in many years) articles of computer code as literature, too.
Death on the Nile
The library started their summer reading program again, so after Thank You For Listening, which I’m finishing up, I’ve got some short ones lined up - a couple Enola Holmes, a couple Nero Wolfe, a few Dr Siri Paiboun, a Jimm Juree, and I think I ordered a few more in case.
Oh. It dawns on me I didn’t check to see if there are categories I"m supposed to hit. I think last year that was for bonus points, but I may need to adjust.
Yeah, one can “read” operas.
It is a good idea to prep for some of these things (and I actually do have Rosencrantz, etc., as a book - like I have Shakespeare plays in book form) – but it’s definitely not better as a book. I also have other Tom Stoppard plays in book form, such as Arcadia and Jumpers – but I see it as a substitute for being able to go see a performance.
These weren’t operas but rather orchestral/chamber pieces without voices (eg symphonies, string quartets). It was called score reading and is something that composers/conductors frequently do. Sometimes there were no recordings available or we composed the pieces ourselves and would have to wait for it to be performed.
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Reminds me of a detail in Terry Pratchett, where he had Vetinari read orchestral scores, preferring that to listening to performances.
also reminds me of when I came across this book:
which is intend as visual art…
hmmm
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10214653203514606&set=a.1054097923538
hmmmm
$1K you say…
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Finished these yesterday and not sure what’s next.
I finished Thank You For Listening. I enjoyed it. I’ve not read any romance novels, but this one seemed to kind of make fun of the genre while pretty much being one. The balance was well done and humor was used throughout the book and especially just as you started to think it was too romance-y. It also had an alzheimers plot line that kind of just ended just as you thought it might bring the book down.
I’ve got two Enola Holmes next, which should be quick listens.
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I finished The Case of the Gypsy Good-bye, an Enola Holmes book. Very quick and pretty good. In this one, the hiding from her brothers ends and it turns out that one of the mysteries (and something that, in retrospect, I should have gathered from the title of the book) turns out to be the death of her mother. I was a little disappointed that her mom talks about her motivation for leaving and, where it was always assumed until now that she had something big, probably illegal. and definitely society-changing planned, she really left simply to “find herself” before she died. So between the friendship with the brothers and the death of her mother, all the major plot points of the series are effectively ended.
Just finished a recently published book, Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton. Excellent read.
next genre Biography, memoirs, etc
Touch The Top Of The World - Eric Weigenmayer
first beach book, avoiding anything political
Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri
Ha! Fair enough.
Just finished “Poverty, by America”. Author makes some really good points, especially about how we all benefit from keeping working class wages suppressed (through cheaper goods, higher stock prices) and real estate prices high (increasing equity for current homeowners). Although one of his biggest issues was the rich getting excessive tax breaks, he also called out expensive middle class neighborhoods with good schools that often have very tight zoning laws preventing affordable housing.
Next up - Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Only read one chapter so far and am already terrified 
The 7 moons of Maali Almeida, which is sort of a fun Beetlejuice ghost detective adventure about the horrors of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
You could say that the ghost stuff is clever political/religious satire, though I think it’s more just making objectively depressing history palatable. Which is find by me. Good book.
Finished this. Very good.
Recalling the recent movie, much of the plot was the same, but the book did not include the lesbian subplot nor the black jazz singer subplot. Book did include mention of some Nubian boat workers, not included in the movie. Still an entertaining movie, despite the unwritten diversity requirement rules.
I read some of Matthew Desmond’s book and agree with your comment above. The sad conclusion I reached is that so many people benefit from maintaining a sizeable poor population in the US that there is little chance the situation will ever change.
I finished Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche. I lived next door to a Mr Barouche for many years and had no idea of the meaning behind the name. The start of the book was devoted to a recap of the entire series, which seemed overkill. Since, in the previous book, Enola earned the respect of Sherlock and Mycroft and the friendship of Sherlock (and the mom died), most of what happened in the past just doesn’t matter any more. Tewky reappears in this book, and that’s really the only significant old reference. Anyway, the series has apparently become an Enola and Sherlock series. The book’s very short and ok. This one has a different narrator and at first I didn’t like it quite as much until I realized she sounds more like a kid with the new narrator, which she really is supposed to be.
A couple Nero Wolfe books are next, I believe.
Did manage to finish his last two books before he passed away. Thank you Cormac for some great reads.
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