Saturday, March 9, 2024

Some books I've read 62



The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland

A good book about one of the first Jews to escape from Auschwitz and then try to warn the world. Some listened, some didn't. Apparently, Churchill already knew. We also follow him later in life and see how it affected him. Surely, a movie version must be on the way.

Butcher's Crossing by John Williams

Great Western, with impressive research, lots of details about buffalo hunting. Masterfully written as well. After this and Stoner, it makes me want too read Augustus, his Roman novel.

The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov

I read this in Norwegian as a teenager, but remembered almost nothing besides a detective trying to solve a murder case and there being robots involved.  I wanted to re-read it out of curiosity. It turns out... I didn't like it. Flat, boring language. Not much story, just a lot of dialogue.

A Masterpiece in Disarray by Max Evry

Or, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Dune, But Were Afraid to Ask. A 500 page oral history about the making of David Lynch's Dune. A flawed semi masterpiece? It's not perfect, but has some great stuff in it. And it's not the 3 hour version Lynch wanted. They ran out of money at the end doing the special effects, and he also had to cut it down to 2 hours, 17 minutes on orders from Dino De Laurentiis. What could have been...

Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli by Mark Seal

The story of the making of The Godfather. Some of these stories I already knew, but a lot of the gangster stuff, how they pulled strings to help filming, was new. I didn't see The Offer. Should I?

Francis Ford Coppola: A Filmmaker's Life by Michael Schumacher

A solid biography of Coppola, from the glorious 70's to the downfall of Zoetrope and his period of being a director for hire. That maybe meant less personal films, but still being excellent work, like Rumble Fish and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Let's hope Megalopolis will be a return to form.

Revolution in the Air by Clinton Heylin

I'm about halfway into this book about every song Bob Dylan has ever written. There is good stuff here, but also Heylin being his usual snooty self to other Dylan biographers.

Silver Surfer: Black by Donny Cates and Tradd Moore

Got this in a used French version. The story I didn't connect to, but the drawings are amazing. Like, far out, man!

Saturday, February 10, 2024

German Q and A

 https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/comics/comiczeichner-jason-in-meinem-western-comic-fuhren-die-cowboys-auf-fahrradern-herum-11182891.html

Saul Steinberg