Michael’s Comments (group member since Mar 07, 2009)

Michael’s comments from the fiction files redux group.

Shel wrote: "OK then. Do we want to start in August or in September when summer is over?"

September would be better for me. I am full tilt into Infintie Summer right now, but cruising along around page 800 this weekend. So my reading list should be looking pretty clear post-labor-day.

Looks like you all had a great time up in Puget Sound. Cheers, mm

Happy B'Day Kerry! And a Happy Dork to all you other ff'ers out in the great northwest today!
mm

Dan wrote: "Those scenes were actually quite good though the faux-ebonics scenes were tedious. I was reading over at the infinitesummer.org site about how these seemingly disconnected scenes come together thro..."

Welcome to the right coast Danman. I was going to mention the Infinite Summer group which Hugh pointed us to. I know I am posting there now, and it would be great to hear some of the familiar FF voice there too.

One of my favorite scenes so far (I'm only in the mid 400's pagewise) is the combo traditionally late family dinner with Mario listing to the veiled Madame P. (Joelle I am pretty sure) intoning lists of the hideously deformed on her radio show. I knew then that this book was written for the ages.

All time funniest (hard to pick one, but clearly) is the recovering Irishman's peon to his healtjy #2:

"Me friends, this tard'o'mine practically had a poolse."

See you at Infinte Summer!
mm

Peter wrote: "hi, i'm pete. i was locked up for fourteen years in the state pen on armed robbery and assault charges. i tried to escape back in '95 but was caught and ended up doing ten years in solitary confine..."

Pete, welcome. Your bio reminds me of one Donald Gately — Former burglar and ex-drug addict. Male live-in staffer at Ennet House; also works a few hours a week at the Shattuck Shelter for Homeless Males.

Also, while you were in your own personal reading space did you read anything by Mr. Joyce? Ditto Edward Gibbon? Ditto 1001 Arabian Nights?

Again welcome.
mm

Ben ben boben
Banana-fanan fofen
Me my momen
BEN!

Happy B-day buddy

Bonita wrote: "It looks like the house in the new Pixar movie, "Up.""

The Up house in real life...

Not exactly Cross Creek, but this is where our family holds its annual get-together with my sister south of St. Augustine. It was built by the Pittsburg Mellon's circa 1900, and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was a frequent guest. Just doing a little research and I note Tolstoy's grandson was also a member of this little salon, see http://www.gallagherstravels.com/rent...



cheers,
mm

Brian wrote: "I'm currently STILL reading Anna Karenina and, yes, I do see an end in sight... there are more pages on my left than on my right. I read a huge chunk of this little novel while visiting both Moscow..."

WAY cool. And you picked a perfect time of year to go. Do you remember that action in The Idiot takes place on the summer soltice?

Again, WAY cool.

Neil wrote: "I've followed this discussion with some interest, as I have a fondness for Wittgenstein and a curiosity towards Markson's work.

I don't know when I'll get around to reading WM, but now it looks ..."

Neil, maybe you can help us out here and moderate us forward a few pages. I have Infinite Jest open - in four places, by bookmark count - and found it useful to read it backwards and sideways as well. So I'm tied up moderator-wise. Can you offer any insight into WM that might encourage us forward with this baby?
mm

Jcamilo wrote: "Not exactly about fame, but critical reckognition. Obviously, nobody dismiss any of them and today Moby is Moby and despite it being not a fish, it wont sink.
We have a few americans that point h..."

Well said. It is heartening to find someone who thinks as much of Poe as I do, e.g. short form, psychological literature, mystery lit, detective story, etc. etc.

How is your thesis coming R-A?

Happy 4th of July everybody. Had a moment this morning to drop in and apologize for my lack of moderation skills. I am afraid I caught whatever Dan had regarding our groupreadicus here. Worked my way about halfway into Wittgenstein's Mistress, but bogged down trying to finish it. Reminded me of those times when the waitress comes over while you still are in the middle of your Lumberjack’s Special breakfast and asks, “Still workin’ on this, hon?”

On the bright side, the major reason I have been remiss in reading WM is my current love affair with DFW’s Infinite Jest. What a burly, good-humored, work of genius. Can’t say enough good things about it. Probably the best thing I have read in the past 5 years. I’ll be commenting shortly on the DFW thread more about this.

But one thing I have been meaning to do is follow up on a comment made some time back about the proliferation of The So-and-so’s Wife titles out there. It’s true. I just did a quick search of Goodread titles, and I was amazed:

The Time Traveler's Wife
The Pilot's Wife (also, separately; Pilate's Wife: A Novel of the Roman Empire)
The Kitchen God's Wife
Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star-gazer: A Novel (What is the rule on semi-colons here: can this go on indefinitely: or what: seriously.)
The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story
The 19th Wife (Also 2nd Wife, 3rd Wife, 4th Wife, etc.)
The Senator's Wife
The Antelope Wife
The Shape-Changer's Wife
The Diplomat's Wife
The Sunday Wife: A Novel
The River Wife: A Novel
The Wood Wife
A Hustler's Wife
The Salaryman's Wife
The Samurai's Wife
A Good Indian Wife: A Novel
The Rector's Wife
An Inconvenient Wife
The Saddlemaker's Wife
The Mapmaker's Wife: A True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon
The Prisoner's Wife: A Memoir
The Emancipator's Wife
The Ideal Wife

And this is just a sampling of wifely titles from the first 3 pages of 170 pages of results! Unbelievable.
For those of you interested; on the last page you will find entries for both Oops! I Forgot My Wife and Oops! I Forgot My Wife Audio Book

mm

Jcamilo wrote: "Lets celebrate. I have a more fine casket of wine. You two go ahead, I shall show you..."

And R-A has left his manuscript lying around here somewhere. I just can't find it now. ;)

Jcamilo wrote: "There isnt an essay by poe about the fear of white? Anyways, notice in berenice that the teeths are also white?

Ok, lets just imagine, Melville have ties with natives, the white color may be fr..."

Ah, Mr. R-A. You have your second midwife.

Do we have another, a third midwife? The more the merrier to be done with R-A's hurlyburly.

“Hr violet eyes dropped and hr smile ran away from hr frozen face as the thought bounced off the walls of hr tighten ing brain. This was Derek sitting right next to her at her neatly decorated office! This was the Derak who had embraced her on the dance floor until her knees turned like jelly. Jelly like she dream of in her hot, mist promising dream like fantasies.”

Martyn wrote: "Where ever I go in the world, I always like to pay my respects to writers who I love and admire by taking pictures. I've even been lucky enough to sleep in one great writer's office (thanks Mr. Ev..."

Martyn - these are great! By the way, are you still keeping up with the Orwell "diaries"? Some of it has been a bit boring around-the-garden-how-many-eggs-have-we-gotten-from-the-hens stuff, but the war diaries have just ramped up; WWII war clouds on the horizon as described by George Orwell.

Shouldn't be missed folks at http://orwelldiaries.wordpress.com/

I read his diary everyday with breakfast.
mm

For all the pain and suffering, this is turning out to be quite a funny book. I think the episode that finally won me over was the phone call between Hal and Orin, where Hal was grooming his toenails. After that it has all been downhill for me.

I found it! Here is the thread R.A. I just re-read it and you are amazing here. It reads like me acting as midwife to your thesis. Someone named "Oro" keeps appearing in the thread as well.

A. Gordon Pym & Moby Dick

Your final comment to the thread,

"There ARE still similiarities here, I know / or feel some -- way back in the cobwebs. I'm sure @ one time these were @ the front of the brain . . . now they seem to haunting the walls 'back there.'

--R.A.

I love it. You have an essay of importance here R.A. and I would really encourage you to have at it. Any further midwifery needed, we can exchane email addresses and take this offline to get it done if you wish.

mm

R.a. wrote: "Luckily or unluckily, I read the three "women" stories in a row: "Lygeia," "Morella," and then, appropriate to the climactic, "Berenice."

I've never forgotten getting to that last paragraph.

..."

R.A.: There are actually four "women" stories by my count. And they do fall into a type. Berenice is clearly in my view the best of the four.

You do often get back to Pym, and its connection to Melville's masterwork. I am waiting for the definitive monograph from you on this topic. I particularly remember a discussion we once had on the use of hierglyphs in both works. You are on to something here and I think it needs to be written and published. Let me see if I can find a link to the old thread for us...

mm

Patrick wrote: "Congratulations on your son. Sorry about Lauren's dad."

Happy Birthday Evisons!

Martyn wrote: "does anybody know how to put pictures into these text boxes? I got lots of pictures to show of famous homes!"

Above the comment box (in which I typing right now), and to the right, is a link labeled "some htlml is ok". There is syntax in there for embedding pictures. Have at it!