Perfect Rigor blog review

http://ashujo.blogspot.com/2009/11/hermitian-operator-in-self-imposed.html
Nullis in verba
PEREGRINATIONS OF A RESTLESS SOUL

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2009

A hermitian operator in self-imposed exile


Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century
Masha Gessen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009)

Pure mathematicians have the reputation of being otherworldly and divorced from practical matters. Grisha or Grigory Perelman, the Russian mathematician who at the turn of this century solved one of the great unsolved problems in mathematics, the Poincare Conjecture, is sadly or perhaps appropriately an almost perfect specimen of this belief. For Perelman, even the rudiments of any kind of monetary, professional or material rewards resulting from his theorem were not just unnecessary but downright abhorrent. He has turned down professorships at the best universities in the world, declined the Fields Medal, and will probably not accept the 1 million dollar prize awarded by the Clay Mathematics Institute for the solution of the some of the most daunting mathematical problems of all time. He has cut himself off from the world after seeing the publicity that his work received and has become a recluse, living with his mother in St. Petersburg. For Perelman, mathematics should purely and strictly be done for its own sake, and could never be tainted with any kind of worldly stigma. Perelman is truly a mathematical hermit, or what a professor of mine would call using mathematical jargon, a "hermitian operator"...

Go, Look: The Comics Reporter on The Best American Comics 2009

 

 

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Go, Look: The Comics Reporter on The Best American Comics 2009

via The Inkwell Bookstore Blog by The Inkwell Bookstore on 11/3/09

In his review of the '09 edition of The Best American Comics, The Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon does a great job describing the mental push and pull of these inherently argument-inducing 'Best Of' books. I particularly like the line, "Most passionate comics readers with the ability to do so read the best the medium has to offer (at least in their view) somewhere between two months before the book comes out to two weeks after it hits the stands." In my opinion, this is the capital-d Difference between the target audience of The Best American Comics collections and those of the, say, poetry and short story collections. Most comics readers (myself included) are hyper-obsessive, highly opinionated motherf*ckers who -- before they've even opened a 'Best Of' book -- have already cataloged a laundry list of stories and strips that they believe are waaay more worthy of inclusion than the ones being blurbed on the cover. I mean, I may be wrong, but I doubt the folks reading The Best American Magazine Writing 2009 feel that they've read the lion's share of this year's premier periodical pieces, but I know for damned sure that your average comics reader believes they've read the best that their chosen art form has to offer. They're assh*les like that. (Myself included.)
Anyway, I'm rambling. Click here to read similar ideas expressed more succinctly.

 

 

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KIRSCH ON ROTH

 

 

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KIRSCH ON ROTH

via The Elegant Variation by TEV on 11/3/09

Writing for Tablet Magazine, Adam Kirsch finds The Humbling "thinly imagined, with few surprises in plot or language."

The books he has produced since then, as he entered his 70s, can only be called late late Roth—or better still, endgame Roth, since they are a series of meditations on last things. In Everyman and Indignation, Roth's protagonists are actually dead, looking back on their lives from beyond the grave. In Exit Ghost, his alter ego Nathan Zuckerman is impotent, which for a Rothian hero is a fate worse than death.

Now comes The Humbling, the latest installment in this wan series. The title could have been used for any of those three books, especially Exit Ghost, for Roth is once again dwelling on impotence—in this case, not just sexual but artistic, too. "He'd lost his magic. The impulse was spent," read the first lines of the book, and they tell us everything we need to know—in fact, just about everything we ever learn—about Simon Axler, Roth's latest avatar. Just as Saul Bellow used to make his alter egos professors or journalists, but wrote about them as if they were really novelists—that is, as if they were himself—so Roth makes Axler an actor, a calling that can easily be translated back into its writerly original.

We haven't read The Humbling yet, though we plan to, and we're interested to see how it compares to Eclipse, John Banville's story of a stage actor who loses his gift.  Would make an interesting Compare and Contrast.  (Not too make too much of names but Banville's actor is Alex Cleave, and the proagonist of Shroud, his next book which involves Cleave's daughter, is Axel.  And now Roth gives us Axler.)

 

 

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Humbling on Bookslut

 

 

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(title unknown)

via Blog of a Bookslut by Jessa Crispin on 11/3/09

This week's Guardian Digested Read: The Humbling by Philip Roth.

"Because it's my book and in my books younger women always want to have sex with me."

She had now become insatiable. "As it's you, Philip, I mean Simon," Pegeen had said, "I'm up for the full range of dirty-old-man sexual fantasies. Bring on the anal sex, the dildos, the strap-ons and the threesomes with another girl with a shaved bush."

 

 

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PHILIP ROTH INTERVIEW

 

 

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PHILIP ROTH INTERVIEW

via The Elegant Variation by TEV on 10/22/09

Philip Roth sits down with Tina Brown for a rare series of video interviews, in which he discusses the new novel, The Humbling, writing about sex, and other topics.  (We share Roth's approval of Tina Brown's useful designation, the "vomit draft".)

Philip Roth on Writing 'The Humbling' from The Daily Beast Video on Vimeo.

The other parts of the interview can be found here at The Daily Beast.

 

 

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BASS mention on Fictionaut

Fictionaut Five: Victoria Lancelotta
Oct 14, 2009 in Fictionaut Five with 0 Comments
With today’s installment, Meg Pokrass takes over the Fictionaut Five series of interviews. Every Wednesday, Meg will ask a writer five (or more) questions.

Victoria Lancelotta is the author of the short story collection Here in the World and the novels Far (Counterpoint) and Coeurs Blesses (Phébus). Booklist called her “a razor’s-edge writer with an existential streak and a fascination with the dichotomies of being.”

Victoria’s story “The Anniversary Trip,” originally published in The Gettysburg Review, appears in The Best American Short Stories 2009, edited by Alice Sebold.

WORD loves HMH

From WORD bookstore blog:

Mentions The Sealed Letter, George Orwell, and Time Traveler's Wife, plus I included the comments which plugs BA Nonrequired Reading. (Bolds are mine.) -HH

WORD on Wednesdays: 7 October 2009
Posted on October 7, 2009 by Word


...We’ve got Terry Tempest Williams on there because dozens of other indie booksellers love her, so even though no one here has read the book, their recommendations are good enough for us. The Sealed Letter by Emma Donague because Stephanie loved it, and the paperback of State by State because it is a cool collection. And George Orwell for good measure. You can’t go wrong with George Orwell’s essays.

Rounding things out, at the top we’re featuring Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger a. because The Time Traveler’s Wife is one of Christine’s favorite books of all time and b. because the publisher sent us a gorgeous letterpress broadside to display with it (poking out the top there) and we love letterpress more than a simple blog post could express.

So there you have it! The bizarre thought patterns behind our front table. As you can see, we don’t always solve every question perfectly every week. But we hope you’ll continue to read along and let us know what you think.

4 Responses
Rich, on October 7th, 2009 at 5:02 pm Said:
I’ve been wondering if the Sealed Letter was any good. Thanks for the rec.
FYI, Emma Donoghue wrote a great bio about two crazy Victorian spinsters who wrote poetry and plays under the pen-name Michael Field. It’s really good. Check it out if you can find a copy: We Are Michael Field (Absolute Press, 1998).
Reply
Brittany, on October 14th, 2009 at 2:15 pm Said:
See you’re giving Dave Eggers some front table love…have you checked out the Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009?
Reply
Word, on October 14th, 2009 at 3:18 pm Said:
Yep, we actually have a big display elsewhere in the store with all the Best Americans! Very popular here.

Sunday Hangovers

Last link is about How to be a Movie Star...

 

 

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Sunday Hangovers

via Shaken & Stirred by Gwenda on 10/4/09

• Maggie Stiefvater with a butt-kicking post about questions that writers can only answer for themselves.
• Someone has reposted the entire Sci Fiction archive without permission. Ellen Datlow has links and contact info for writers who would like their stories removed.
• The real missing link? Her name is Ardi.
• Both Colleen Mondor and Sara Zarr offer some perspective on banned books week and crimes involving young women. (If you are defending Roman Polanski, just UGH. What is wrong with you? You like rich people's privilege that much?)
• Alana Joli offers some interesting thoughts about urban fantasy, and then about literature and genre fiction and the Great Divide.
• That New York Times' essay by Arthur Krystal--in case you missed it--about the differences in thinking when writing vs. speaking.
• Jeff Ford recently asked for his blog readers' favorite ghost stories (short story length) for a top ten he's compiling for a class he's teaching this semester. You could do worse than reading any of the resulting stories. Any you'd add?
• Speaking of which, Ron Charles gives a good review to Audrey Niffenegger's just-out Her Fearful Symmetry, and offers a round-up of this year's best creepy, literary-flavored reads so far.
• The Elizabeth Taylor biography sounds like the chronicle of an absolute nutcaseSPLENDID.

 

 

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The Best ‘Worst’ Book Discussion

 

 

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The Best ‘Worst’ Book Discussion

via Book Group Buzz - Discussion of Book Clubs, Reading Lists, and Literary News - Booklist Online by kaite stover on 10/10/09

Like most book group facilitators, I'm always looking for ways to enhance the discussion. At the last meeting of the Kansas City Public Library's lunch time biblio-chatters, Downtowners, I barely had to list a finger. That day's selection was National Book Award Winner, The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan. In addition to bringing in three new members (two of them men!), participants brought their own discussion enhancers.

One of the men who had lived for a time in the most southwestern corner of Kansas brought a map of the state and surrounding state and passed it around for the other participants to examine. He pointed out the Cimarron National Grassland area and talked about what the land looked like now .

Another participant held up the incendiary documentary, The Plow That Broke the Plains, and brought reader attention to this important historical document and it's depiction of the misuse of the land that lead to the Great American Dustbowl. She also noted the use of folk music in the film.

Readers discussed the scholarship and writing style of the author. All found the story compelling, but felt there was too much extraneous detail that bogged down the narrative. One reader did note that while she tended to skip many of the ecological or scientific or political details, they were necessary for reader to understand the long term effects of the Dustbowl and how it came to be.

The last related item that participants briefly discussed is Newbery Award winner, Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. This verse novel presents this tragic period in the Great Depression through the eyes of a fourteen-year-old girl who loses her mother and younger brother in a tragic accident for which she blames herself. Through the never-ending dust storms, Billie Joe holds onto her love for the music of the period, ragtime, and begins to forge a new relationship with her stubborn father who will not leave the harsh and unforgiving land.

All the Downtowners remarked that this significant piece of American history was given short shrift in their high school history classes and appreciated the detail learned in Egan's book, Hesse's juvenile novel, and the documentary.

 

 

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Hard Boiled Wonderlands

Harcourt backlist.

 

 

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Hard Boiled Wonderlands

via Book Group Buzz - Discussion of Book Clubs, Reading Lists, and Literary News - Booklist Online by Neil Hollands on 10/9/09

Hard boiled detective novels and speculative fiction are not common subject matter for book groups, but that's a dirty shame. Some of the best fiction being written these days is in the genres. A coincidence in my recent reading schedule has left me thinking about books in which these two genres coincide.

I just received Strange Cases by Jill H. Vassilakos and Paul Vassilakos-Long as a review assignment. It's a guide to speculative mystery fiction, one of the increasingly specialized reference works that we librarians seek out because they help us advise readers in the ever-more-diverse book world. Readers' advisory books are our secret weapons, and book group leaders ought to add them to their arsenals. I'm excited to see what these writers have to say; maybe more about that in a future blog.

I was already reading Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. I've wanted to try Murakami for ages, but only just now found time for him. I'm not disappointed. In just the last few chapters, he's mixed in a profligate librarian who makes a sensual house call with reference materials about a unicorn skull; a wonderful description of a home-cooked Japanese meal; a prolonged comparison of the merits of Stendahl, Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, and Tolstoy; and a terrifying home invasion by a duo of mysterious and mismatched thugs. Perhaps the real wonder here is that despite using three kinds of weirdness–futurism, mysticism, and quirkiness–Murakami still maintains compelling forward momentum in the plot. So far I'm on pins and needles.

This is not the only wonderful mixture of hard-boiled and speculative fiction awaiting readers. Try Jonathan Lethem's Gun with Occasional Music, which combines genetic manipulation, dystopia, a classic wiseacre detective, and much other weirdness. Lethem's dialogue is worth the price of admission alone.

Or race through Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt series, a blitzkrieg of five lightning-paced novels featuring a tough fixer, New York gangs, and vampires. The adventure starts with Already Dead and will conclude with this month's My Dead Body.

Another standout is Richard K. Morgan's Thirteen (published as Black Man in his home country of Britain.) It's another tale of genetics gone wrong, this time with healthy doses of racial justice and international politics thrown into the science fiction mix. Also consider Jim Butcher, or Mike Carey, or even Charlaine Harris, whose Sookie Stackhouse series has taken a decidedly tougher turn in recent editions.

That's enough for tonight. Time to go back down the rabbit hole with Murakami.

 

 

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