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There is a new HBO series called “The Girls” ( http://www.hbo.com/girls/index.html ), which I think relates to “Sex in the City” in a similar way as “The Magicians” relate to “Harry Potter”.
This can be viewed as a new depressed trend… or a realistic view… or an eye opening alarm… of a newer generation.
Another point for discussion.
I’ve collected a few reviews of The Magicians by Lev Grossman for the meeting May 1, 2012.
The AV Club review from 2009 says “Grossman’s triumph is that he treats these magical worlds of childhood seriously.” And “everyone in The Magicians is capable of great damage and great kindness, but not everyone realizes it, and they expect the usual rules of fantasy fiction to swoop in and save the day.”
The NY Times book review (also from 2009) calls it a “magical world for adults.” I hope to discuss this with the group. Does this mean the “mature themes” like sleeping around, hurting those you love and “sloshing wine” for adults? This review also states that ““The Magicians” is a jarring attempt to go where those novels do not: into drugs, disappointment, anomie, the place and time when magic leaks out of your life.” [Anomie is social instability and social alienation. I had to look up the definition.] I disagree that other magic novels do not get into disappointment.
I think the magical world created in books “aimed” at younger readers like Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia resonate because they are timeless, ageless and universal. I feel like books about magic deal with the following themes: not fitting in, discovering a world where you excel but need to work on being accepted, learning who you are, who to trust, what you’re good at, who your parents are, what the world is like. JK Rowling did all that with humor and danger and thrills for all ages. And Harry Potter is dark as well as the Magicians.
I think there is a lot to discuss in this book about what works and what doesn’t work. I look forward to other’s opinions.
And finally, here’s a review of both The Magicians and its sequel The Magician’s King: http://belmontshore.patch.com/blog_posts/book-review-lev-grossman-works-magic
Hi Everyone,
I ran across Leonard Nimoy reading of the Raymond Carver short story that was the subject of a recent meeting on Selected Shorts on NPR. It looks like I’m a week too late to give you a good link to it. NPR lets you play only the last 5 episodes (as far as I can tell). This one played on January 29, 2012. Sorry about that. Nevertheless, maybe some of you download the podcasts. I’ve been in love with Leonard Nimoy for as long as I can remember (in his Spock incarnation), so it was fun to hear.
I miss you all,
Charlotte
Instead of meeting this week to discuss Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of Seven Gables we will be meeting on Tuesday, March 23 at 8 at Lisa’s house.
Has anyone actually been there? http://www.7gables.org/tour_gables.shtml
Thank you Beth for hosting the 14 January meeting, where we discussed Paul Auster’s Travels In The Scriptorium. Edeet collected a few articles about the book and Auster:
This review by Paul Kincaid in Strange Horizons discusses the two different Paul Auster writing styles and how this book is made of characters from other Auster novels. And this is a well written blog review describing the characters from other novels – Edeet found Moon Palace on page 45.
Here is the negative NY Times Sunday Book Review and the positive review from The Washington Post. And finally, some handy background information on the author himself.
The next meeting will be on 11 March to discuss The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Sorry, I know it’s groan-worthy, but I couldn’t resist.
We’ll be meeting at 8 Dec. 17 at Claire’s to talk about Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight. Teresa and Charlotte will be joining us by Skype, a Makioka first!
Optional: Read about Edward’s ancestors in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, and/or various vampire stories by Arthur Canon Doyle. If you don’t have a chance to get to the library, you can read them online, since they are all in the public domain (for those who can recall our Moveable Feast copyright discussion).
Not everyone will be able to make this impromptu, added meeting. Our next regularly scheduled meeting will be January 14 at Beth’s where we will discuss Paul Auster’s Travels in the Scriptorium. As a few of us noted, Edeet’s astute take on Auster was validated in last week’s New York Times Book Review piece on Auster’s most recent book.
Thank you Claire for hosting a wonderful discussion around the two editions of A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.
A. E. Hotchner wrote a New York Times Op-Ed in July of this year about how he was with Hem when he discovered notebooks left at the Ritz in Paris with writings about the places, people and events of living in Paris in the 1920s. There is also an article from June describing the ‘recast’ edition.
Here is an article from the Atlantic and another about Mariel Hemingway optioning the rights for film & TV. There’s another movie about Hemingway and his work.
Read the original or new edition of A Moveable Feast
“A Moveable Feast”, by Hemmingway, which was recently the subject of a controversy because his grandson rewrote parts & had it republished as he didn’t think it portrayed his grandmother in a favorable light
We’ll met at Claire’s at 8 Nov. 12 to talk about the book, various changes, etc.
Then for the next meeting we’ll be reading Paul Auster’s Travels in the Scriptorium, tentatively Jan 14 at Beth’s house….
We’ll be meeting September 24 to discuss Moon Palace by Paul Auster at Edeet’s house.
Off topic: I just started using Better World Books to order books. You usually do not have to pay shipping, the prices are pretty good, and apparently the company gives about 20 percent of the net sale price of each book to libraries and nonprofit literacy organizations. With Amazon gouging publishers and authors and taking part in other officious activities, I’m going to try to use this seller for a while. However, if anyone hears ill of them, let me know and I’ll go back to my old book-buying habits.
Lisa
I apologize for the late posting but I want to post the links we used at the recent discussion of Robertson Davies “What’s Bred in the Bone.”
First, there’s this interview on the CBC Digital Archives where Robertson Davies discusses his career, his approach to writing and other things. After I listened to this interview, I thought that he based a few parts of “What’s Bred in the Bone” on his own life. The interview is about 1/2 hour long. At the very least, seeing what Mr. Davies looks like is worth clicking on the link!
As the story evolves with Francis Cornish’s life, there are a few paintings referenced in the story. Thanks to Wikipedia, we looked at the paintings Love Locked Out , Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time and The Wedding at Cana. There is also a recent article about a digital reproduction of ‘The Wedding at Cana’ along with some multi-media affects.
If you enjoyed reading this book, there’s the first book in the Cornish Trilogy, “The Rebel Angels.” I highly recommend The Deptford Trilogy – especially Fifth Business – Robertson Davies’ most famous trilogy.
And finally, today in the New York Times there is a story about the unlocking of the memoirs of Anthony Blunt, one of Britain’s most renowned 20th-century art historians especially on 17th century painters. His memoirs describe how he spied for the Soviet Union. It reminded me of the character Francis Cornish but Mr. Blunt was spying against Britain instead of for it!
Have a great summer and happy reading! – Dalia
Makioka Sisters Book Club 