Melissa Wiley's Blog, page 164
June 4, 2010
48-Hour Book Challenge
Starts today. Details and starting line at MotherReader.
Busy weekend around here, so this year I'll just be cheering the rest of you on. Gatorade, anyone?
Because You're You
[Harry:] started coming to the Rays' regularly. He brought Julia flowers and candy. He brought her the score of The Red Mill, and he and Julia sang a duet from it:
"Not that you are fair, dear
Not that you are true…"
He lifted his eyebrows and puffed out his chest. He quite eclipsed poor Hugh.
—from Betsy in Spite of Herself
by Maud Hart Lovelace
The Red Mill, an operetta by Victor Herbert and Henry Blossom, opened on Broadway in 1906. Among Herbert's other works are Babes in Toyland (1903) and ...
June 3, 2010
Yes, I Am Delusional
Oh, I crack myself up.
It's all the books I have started in the past year or so, read big chunks of, am truly eager to finish, but haven't for one reason or another. (Dunno if I've ever mentioned it, but I have six kids.)
If I stand a chance of whittling down that list, I may have to swear off certain blogs for the summer. Colleen Mondor of Chasing Ray, for example, has a knack for inflaming my booklust. A hazard to the TBR pile, she is. In the best possible way. 
I...
June 2, 2010
This Is Your Brain on the Internet, Part 2
At Wired.com, author Nicholas Carr asserts that "The Web Shatters Focus, Rewires Brains":
The Internet is an interruption system. It seizes our attention only to scramble it. There's the problem of hypertext and the many different kinds of media coming at us simultaneously. There's also the fact that numerous studies—including one that tracked eye movement, one that surveyed people, and even one that examined the habits displayed by users of two academic databases—show that we start to...
Too Many Books
I keep thinking that's it, I'm drawing a line, no new books until I've finished all the ones already here—but I can hardly finish the thought before the disclaimers come crowding in. Well, except review copies; can't stop those from coming. And there's all those waiting lists I'm on at the library: #16 of 31 holds for The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag; 48 out of 56 for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
And friends have new books coming out; I'll want to read those.
And there's that...
May 31, 2010
The Merry Widow Waltz
"I've a new waltz I want Mamma to hear. She talks so often of the great Strauss. Here is a piece as good as any of his and it is also by a Viennese."
He began to play.
The opening phrases were short and artless. They sounded like a rocking horse. But the swing began to grow longer, the rhythm stronger. The waltz began to ask questions, wistful, poignant. It took on a dreamier sweep.
Then a gayer theme sent Uncle Rudy's fingers rippling over the keys. The melody wove in and out. It circled...
May 30, 2010
Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers
Celebrating its 400th anniversary this year. New to me this morning.
"It's just one of the great pieces because it represents the epitome of the best of Renaissance music and the most incredible part of all the great changes that came in with Baroque music, all in one package."
—Gwendolyn Toth, founder and artistic director of ARTEK early music ensemble in NYC
"From 1600 to 1760, the vogue was Baroque
and the folks who composed were Monteverdi,
Lully, Schütz, and Purcell,
Scarlatti and Handel and...
Monteverde's 1610 Vespers
Celebrating its 400th anniversary this year. New to me this morning.
"It's just one of the great pieces because it represents the epitome of the best of Renaissance music and the most incredible part of all the great changes that came in with Baroque music, all in one package."
—Gwendolyn Toth, founder and artistic director of ARTEK early music ensemble in NYC
"From 1600 to 1760, the vogue was Baroque
and the folks who composed were Monteverdi,
Lully, Schütz, and Purcell,
Scarlatti and Handel and...
