Second Quarter 2022 Update

[fauxklore]

Books: I read remarkably little the past three months, partly because of trying to clear out piles of old magazines. Still, there are a few, only one of which I could wholeheartedly recommend, alas.

1. Fran Leibowitz, Metropolitan Life. This was a reread. The essays in this collection are somewhat dated, but many of them are still amusing. Nobody cares about conceptual art any more and only right wing extremists mock gay people. It also annoys me when a woman disparages math and science. Unfortunately, the times and values Leibowitz wrote about in these pieces are on their way back.
   
   
2. Elin Hildebrand, 28 Summers. The idea of this novel (which I read for my book club) is based on the movie Same Time, Next Year in which a couple has a one weekend a year affair. This is pretty much the epitome of a beach book - light but diverting. I couldn’t buy the coincidences that kept her son out of the picture on the annual weekend. And, really, she conceived that son as a result of a hook-up at her brother’s wedding. Slip a condom in your purse, girl.
   
   
3. Simon Brett, Bibliotecha Classica. This is another in the novella series published by Mysterious Press. A snobbish academic receives a copy of Bibliotecha Classica (a.k.a. Lempriere’ Dictionary) and his wife helps him research who bowdlerized that copy. He decides to write an article about this, but his wife has met an amateur researcher who has already novelized the situation. Overall, it’s pretty much an anti-academic screed, but it is always good to see a snob getting his comeuppance.
   
   
4. Randy Rainbow, Playing With Myself. I got this signed copy for going to Randy Rainbow’s book talk. I love his videos but his memoir has a bit too much name dropping and gushing over celebrities to be completely satisfying. It wasn’t a complete waste of time as he wrote about cats and told the story of his name (which is, indeed, his real name), but I passed the book along to a friend.
   
   
5. Fran Leibowitz. Social Studies. More of the same - avoiding writing, enjoying smoking, kvetching about New York apartments, general curmudgeonliness. Much of what she wrote here (except on the subject of fashion) is still relevant 40 years later, which is a plus.
   
   
6. Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones and the Six. This is the literary equivalent of a mockumentary and is a complete and total slog. It consists of a series of interviews with members of a fictional rock band (based on Fleetwood Mac) and is a mix of infighting, ego wars, and drugs. I read this for my book club and the group was sharply divided on it, so maybe there are some people out there who could bring themselves to care about the characters. Not I.
   
   
7. Gaston LeRoux, The Phantom of the Opera. Surprisingly, I had not read this before. I knew the basic story, of course, from movies and two musical theatre versions. (For the record, Maury Yeston’s is much much much much much much better than Andrew Lloyd Webber’s.) The adaptations are truer to the novel than I expected. Anyway, there is plenty of suspense and, however implausible Erik’s abilities are, Le Roux does play fair. Overall, a good read.
   
   

Movies: I saw two movies at the theatre and one on an airplane.

1. The Automat: This documentary is exactly the sort of movie I enjoy. I only remember eating at an automat once and I was about 9 years old at the time, so I have only a vague memory of it, but it was delightful to hear the reminiscences of many famous people talking about the automat (and the Philadelphia version, known as Horn and Hardart’s). Sweet nostalgia, which had everyone in the theatre (okay, there were just 3 of us) talking about it afterwards. Highly recommended.
   
   
2. The Duke: Based on a true story, this tells the story about the heist of a painting. The perpetrator is trying to bring attention to his campaign to provide free television licenses for old age pensioners. Or is that what really happened? This was less humorous than I expected from the trailer, but still reasonably enjoyable.
   
   
3. The Big Lebowski: I watched this on a flight from Seattle to Anchorage. It’s a bit surprising I’d never seen it before since I like many of the Coen brothers’ movies and Lubowsky (note difference in spelling) is one of my family names. But I hadn’t and I did and I mostly liked it. My favorite part has to do with Walter being shower Shabbat (i.e. he doesn’t roll on Saturday). Lots of absurdity, which is about what I expected.
   
   

Goals:

• I took two trips to New York and one to Alaska, so I am up to 6 for the year so far (out of a goal of 10). And I have 2 more coming up this month.
  
  
• I am more than 2/3 through my current cross-stitch project, so being able to finish two this year seems feasible.
  
  
• I've done nothing about knitting or crocheting afghans.
  
  
• Nor have I done anything about organizing photos. Sigh.
  
  
• I have gotten rid of a lot of magazines, and I have only a few non-crafts magazines to go.
  
  
• I’ve learned two folktales, but I am not sure whether I like one of them enough to tell it more than once. I have an exciting storytelling show next week, though, with a new story that’s a real stretch from what I usually do.
  
  
• Organizing my yarn stash? Ha ha ha!
  
  
• I’m only up to 23 books out of my yearly goal of 75, so I have some ways to go. I am somewhat back on pace so far this month, so I think that goal is still achievable.
  
  
• I am still vacillating about what language(s) to study.