In Robert Asprin’s Myth Conceptions, a year has passed since Skeeve began his apprenticeship under Aahz, a Pervect who’s lost his magical powers. For the most part they’ve managed to avoid trouble, but unfortunately it finds them again. After Skeeve lands the usually “cushy” position of Court Magician, the first trick is unveiled… defend Possiltum kingdom from the biggest, mightiest army in the world. Told that even if they succeeded they’d be executed, Skeeve and Aahz find themselves in a lose-lose situation. How can an apprentice’s magik possibly beat those odds? Having a “talon-ted” ten-foot dragon, an Imp, an old Archer from Archiah, and a few other tricks up their sleeves might help. So what if Bratwurst- er, Brockhurst is powerless and Ajax falls asleep during battle?

Themes:

• Myth-conceptions
• Power vs control
• Brains vs brawn
• Bureaucracy
• Laws of engagement

Myth Conceptions is written so that it makes sense without having read the previous MythAdventure, Another Fine Myth. Skeeve does a good job of filling in the blanks and, if anything, a few inside jokes may be missed. The banter and sarcasm between characters make up a big chunk of the witty and punny story.

Although I wasn’t choking from laughter like I was for the first in the series, I couldn’t help but chuckle (and occasionally groan) my way through Myth Conceptions. It’s great light reading that’s entertaining to say the least. If anything, it was over too quickly. I look forward to reading more MythAdventures, even if that means skipping to M.Y.T.H Inc. Link, number nine, which I already own. Recommended.

“(Beauraucracy is) the organization to get things done that keeps things from getting done.”

“You do well to dance for me, Salome. And after you have danced, do not forget to ask of me what you like. Anything you ask for I will give you, up to half my kingdom. Have I not taken an oath?”

Oscar Wilde’s tragedy, Salome, tells the Biblical story of tetrarch Herod’s stepdaughter. At Herod’s promise of anything, Salome performs the Dance of the Seven Veils for him. Spurned by the prophet Iokanaan (John the Baptist), she demands his head on a silver platter. Fearful of Iokanaan’s riddles and powers, Herod is reluctant to fulfill Salome’s horrifying request, but word is bond. Salome’s mother, the unbelieving Herodias, is delighted to have the man who “vomited insults upon” her executed. Afterall, Iokanaan had the audacity to call the marriage to her brother-in-law an adulterous abomination.

Salome is one act of religious debate between soldiers, Nazarenes and Jews, and Herod and Herodias. Arguments are made over whether the Messiah has arrived, Iokanaan being a prophet, Caesar, and of course, God. Touched upon are also incest and jealousy, which are the causes for certain actions and outcomes within the play.

With comments to their brightness and beauty, comparisons between Salome and the full moon are frequently stated. Foreshadowing of events is made by Herod, who cries:

“Ah! look at the moon. She has turned red. She has turned red like blood. Ah! the prophet prophesied well. He prophesied that the moon would turn red like blood. Did he not prophesy that? You all heard him. The moon has turned red like blood. Do you not see it?”

One of the interesting things about Salome is that Wilde originally wrote and published it in French before translating it into English in 1894. It was also banned during its London debut in 1892 because of its theatrical depiction of Biblical characters. Salomé finally debuted in Paris in 1896 while Wilde was in prison. It was eventually performed in England in 1931, when the ban was lifted.

Writing a good one act is comparable to writing a good short story: set it up so it makes sense and then finish. In that aspect, Salome is well-written. However, if one doesn’t understand its Biblical allusions, a reader (like myself) may find it a bit confusing. The subject matter wasn’t really my cup of tea. Overall, I found it to be an okay read. If one’s wanting to read a Wilde play, I suggest the comical Lady Windermere’s Fan or An Ideal Husband. The Picture of Dorian Gray is an eerily fantastic piece of fiction that’s in the review queue.

Second and final reading for the GLBT and Drama Challenges, respectively, done.

Unread Books Challenge: “Give me the list or take a picture of all the books you have stacked on your bedside table, hidden under the bed or standing in your shelf – the books you have not read, but keep meaning to. The books that begin to weigh on your mind. The books that make you cover your ears in conversation and say, ‘No! Don’t give me another book to read! I can’t finish the ones I have!’ “

Oh, that I had a camera to show the stacks, but since I don’t… those that have been queued the longest and are already on my shelves are:

Carlos Castaneda: Teachings of Don Juan
Miguel de Cervantes: Don Quixote
Ursula Le Guin: Earthsea series (finish)
Victor Hugo: Les Misérables (reread in French this time)

Hm, that’s a rather small fraction of the Dread Pile o’Reads, to which I’m adding yet another book. I don’t use a separate stack for TBR books, preferring to settle them right into their shelves, which are currently not as organized as usual.

This week I found a used copy of Passions and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Not having read anything by Singer since around ‘93, the 20 stories were irrestible. Aside from Mazel and Shlimazel and Yentl the Yeshiva Boy I don’t remember titles, but I recall really liking them and frequently laughing. It’s also a way of connecting with my heritage. Sadly (I think), my knowledge of Yiddish literature basically begins and ends with Singer, but he was a key figure. I’ve a friend who would be happy to give me a reading list, but I’m trying not to add to the pile…kinda…sorta…

What’s in your unread pile? Any good finds lately?

In Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere believes her husband is having an affair. As “proof” of his unfaithfulness, Lord Windermere invites Mrs. Erlynne to his wife’s ball. Outraged, Lady Windermere leaves him for Lord Darlington, who claims that he truly loves her. Hoping to persuade her to return home, Mrs. Erlynne follows Lady Windermere to Lord Darlington’s and, due to circumstance, they end up hiding. For unknown reasons to Lady Windermere, her reputation and marriage is saved by Mrs. Erlynne.

First produced in 1892, the four act comedy is a satire about Victorian England, where a scandal is among the worst things that could happen. Wilde rebukes the different social laws that men and women are expected to follow, especially in regard to marriage. While a husband’s affair is kept quiet and publicly frowned upon, a wife’s reputation would be utterly destroyed and she would be shamed. Society’s view, as told by Lady Windermere is that:

“If a woman really repents, she never wishes to return to the society that had made or seen her ruin”.

Wilde calls Society out on its falseness through Lord Darlington’s line:

“So many conceited people go about Society pretending to be good, that I think it shows rather a sweet and modest disposition to pretend to be bad. Besides, there is this to be said. If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn’t. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism.”

The script works well for the characters, their moral standing, and how some of their views change through the play. The puritanical Lady Windermere, who believes that life “is a sacrament. Its ideal is Love. It’s purification is sacrifice”, says near the play’s end:

“I don’t think now that people can be divided into the good and the bad as though they were two separate races or creations. What are called good women may have terrible things in them, bad moods of recklessness, assertion, jealousy, sin. Bad women, as they are termed, may have in them sorrow, repentance, pity, sacrifice”.

Mrs. Erlynne is shunned and the subject of gossip because she cast aside married life. She prefers living under the hospitality of others outside of England and away from strict Society. While talking about Mrs. Erlynne and her scandalous past, Lord Darlington says:

“Misfortunes one can endure- they come from outside, they are accidents. But to suffer for one’s own faults-ah!-there is the sting of life”.

The satire’s humor is more apparent through the characters’ actions and behaviors than their lines. It could possibly be funnier if seen by actors over-acting and really reflecting Wilde’s views on the absurdity of Society. Overall, Lady Windermere’s Fan is a pretty good, quick read.

Sixth and first reading for the Drama and GLBT challenges done.

Quotes:

• “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.”
• “Actions are the first tragedy in life, words are the second. Words are perhaps the worst. Words are merciless.”
• A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. A sentimentalist is a man who sees the absurd value in everything and doesn’t know the market price of a single thing.

While having my coffee I heard drumbeats in the distance so poked my head out the door to see from which direction they were coming…down the block in front of my favourite coffee shop. Beautiful day (finally!) and James and I haven’t played outside in months. I grabbed him, went over and inquired, and we jammed for a bit. I think we found our new Sunday afternoon hang out. Usually jamming is far and in between so it’ll be great to do so on a more regular basis.

I was very pleasantly surprised when last week I noticed that SJ Tucker had added an eighth song to Quartered, the soundtrack for Catherynne M. Valente’s tantalizing Palimpsest. “Girl with the Lion’s Tail” is quick, catchy, addicting, and tied with “We Are Shangri-La” as favourites from the album. I can’t argue with Sooj’s decision to continue adding songs through the summer instead of April and look forward to hearing what else she comes up with. I guess it’ll be at summer’s end when I buy and review the album.

PR Frost’s latest Tess Noncoiré adventure was released in early June. It’ll be awhile yet before I get to Faery Moon since I want to read the first in the series, Hounding the Moon, beforehand. The second, Moon in the Mirror is a fun frolick into urban fantasy.

Between Oscar Wilde and Wilkie Collins I’ve been getting a hefty dose of social commentary. I think I’ll pause Wilde for a bit, continue through the last half of Collins’s the Black Robe, and pick up some light reading…possibly Robert Asprin, Hounding the Moon, Mercedes Lackey’s Snow Queen, or… It’s a shame I don’t have a lot to pick from.

I’m cursing myself for forgetting that Montreal’s arts festival was this week, the last day being today. Too late for me to cruise the streets perusing art now, tabernac! Next year. At least there’s still plenty of time for me to catch some tunes at the Jazz Festival. Not that I really mind rain, but it would be nice if the weather stayed clear for all the musicians and listeners outside.

Written in 1859 and 1868, the Woman in White and the Moonstone by Wilkie Collins are considered to be among the first English detective novels and the forerunners for modern mystery and suspense. Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes didn’t appear until about twenty years later. Collins used many of the devices that are still characteristic of modern mysteries: red herrings, multiple suspects, a professional detective, bungling policemen, sleuthing techniques, a large manor, and as the Moonstone’s Betteredge would say, amateurs with “detective-fever”.

In the Woman in White, Walter Hartright is employed as an art instructor for two young women. He falls in love with Laura Fairlie, who is engaged to another whose only interest lies in her fortune. Stripped of her identity and some of her sanity, Laura is rescued by Walter and her half-sister, Marion Halcombe. Together they work to uncover the fraudulent plot and untangle the dark secret of the ghostly woman who keeps appearing.

In the Moonstone, Rachel Verinder is bequeathed a large Indian diamond from her uncle on her eighteenth birthday. Excited by her inheritance, Rachel wears the diamond for the celebration’s guests to see, including three Indian jugglers who came calling. The following morning, it’s discovered that the Moonstone was stolen. Fingers point in different directions, but the question remains, whodunnit? No, it wasn’t the butler with the pipe in the library.

As Collins states in the Woman in White’s preamble, both stories are “told by more than one pen, as the story of an offence against the laws is told in Court by more than one witness”. In the Moonstone, the loyal and proper Gabriel Betteredge describes his employer and her daughter as a rare breed among women because they’re sensible and competent. According to Miss Clack, her cousins’ souls need saving and she’s more interested in recalling her attempts to aid them in that venture than shedding light on the situation at hand. Whereas the recollections of Betteredge and Clack are casual and humorous, the reports of the family’s lawyer and the detective are strictly business. Also drawing on his legal training, characters’ letters, diary entries, and reports tell of what was seen and experienced first hand and each narrator picks up where the other left off. Collins’s multi-narration, epistolary method makes the mysteries move quickly while giving a three dimensional view of everyone involved.

Under the guise of sensation novels, Collins comments on England’s Victorian society. He shows how easy it was for women to be financially taken advantage of and used. The notions that one sex and class was better than the other is very apparent. Whether a wealthy woman or a steward, one needed to remember their place and behave accordingly. Collins portrays religious fanatics as absurd through Miss Clack, a devout Christian who goes to church multiple times a day and leaves a dozen leaflets around her cousins’ house to be read. Instead of tipping a cab driver, she gives him a pamphlet on swearing. As I’m currently reading the Black Robe, I can see how the two mysteries are considered to be the best works of Collins, who continued his social commentary in a less thrilling vein.

The two novels in question have complex plots full of twists and turns, drama, suspense, and more questions than answers. I read the Woman in White in 2006 to see what Andrew Lloyd Webber changed for his musical of the same title. I spent many nights burning the midnight candle to see what happened next. I like the Moonstone, but not as much as the Woman in White, which I consider more of an edge-of-your-seat suspense thriller. I’m not much of a mystery reader, but I really enjoyed and recommend these Collins classics.

Despite manic depressive weather on Tuesday, people showed up en masse for the Montreal International Jazz Festival’s 30th grand opening. We all had reasons to show up: free music outdoors, it’s summer, and Stevie Wonder’s kick-off concert. It was definitely a fun night to remember! With around 150,000 attendees in about a four block radius, it was also “just a bit” crowded. A friend and I arrived at the festival early enough to weave through the mob and stake out spots in front of the stage, about a half block away. We could see the performance pretty well thanks to the nearby screen. Once the concert started, people loosened up and had enough space to dance in place.

With band members, accompanying singers, and numerous instruments, Stevie Wonder’s performance included “I Can’t Help It”, “Ma Cherie Amour”, “Sir Duke”, “Superstition”, and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”. He also had a couple really sweet harmonica and keyboard solos. Thanks to Wonder feeding the crowd lyrics and playing the instrumental section, we had a giant sing-along. The off and on drizzle failed to dampen the celebratory mood and spirits remained high before and after the two-and-a-half hour show.

The one shadow was the recent passing of Michael Jackson, but the evening turned into a wonderful tribute to the King of Pop who started in MoTown. Accompanied by his daughter, Aisha Morris, Wonder opened the concert by saying, “I want for us to celebrate the life and the legacy of Michael Jackson. We can continue to keep the life and spirit of this man’s music alive forever”. He also had a few choice words about the vultures exploiting Jackson. Through the night, Jackson’s music was piped through the speakers and everyone on and off stage would groove along. Wonder also adapted “I Just Called to Say I Love You” for Jackson and had everyone singing “Michael, we love you so, never ever gonna let you go”.

So there we were, a sea of people singing, dancing, celebrating, and having a grand ole time (photos).  As Wonder, who received the jazz festival’s Spirit Award, said through the evening:

“This is what it’s all about, the perpetuation of music.”

“I don’t need no negativity. I can feel bad myself.”

“If you have a heart, love somebody. If you have a really big heart, love everybody.”

Indeed.

“I Just Called to Say I Love You”

“Overjoyed”

Medley

Okay, after some consideration I’m accepting the challenge that dares not speak its name. My Dread Pile o’Reads teeters enough, but since I’ve been reading Oscar Wilde’s plays I might as well.

Amanda’s guidelines for the challenge are simple: read 6 books with GLBT themes or by GLBT authors between July 01 and December 31, 2009.

Here’s the starting list:

1. Oscar Wilde: Lady Windermere’s Fan

2. Oscar Wilde: Salome

3. Oscar Wilde: An Ideal Husband

4. Oscar Wilde: the Importance of Being Ernest

5. Alison Bechdel: Dykes to Watch Out For: Split-Level

6 & 7. Tony Kushner: Angels in America- Millenium Approaches and Perestroika

I may forgo some of Wilde’s social commentary by skipping An Ideal Husband and going right to Ernest. Reviews aren’t written yet, but Lady Windermere’s Fan was good and at times slightly humorous. The one act Salome was okay. I found the talk of religion and incest on a terrace rather drab. Otherwise, I like Wilde’s writing enough to read a bunch of it at a time and think the Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Writings by Oscar Wilde is a great collection of his works.

Do I really want to read Angels for the ?th time? Yep, it’s been a couple years.

In general, I’m not inclined to read about a person’s life from cover to cover. I’ve enough to read without adding fine details and reminiscing to the pile. Much to my annoyance, I’m bombarded with celebrity drama. Personally, I don’t care if someone’s attire is “in fashion” or who they’re bonking. As they’re wont to do, exceptions occasionally arise, and there are a few biographies that caught my interest.

Although I’m a fan of the music stylings of Meat Loaf and Michael Crawford, it was their work in theatre that really piqued my interest and led me to read To Hell and Back and Parcel Arrived Safely: Tied With String. As a theatre geek, I get a kick out of what happens behind the scenes, from casting and rehearsals to the final curtain call. Meat Loaf also gives insight into how the music industry has changed through the years. Both of their antecdotes were entertaining, to say the least. Their autobiographies are also less pomp and more humorous circumstance, which make them enjoyable, quick reads.

On a more serious note, Anthony Rapp’s Without You is a deeply touching and honest memoir about the joys and sorrows of life. Rapp shares the struggles of an actor, of his mom’s battle with cancer, and with his mom about his sexuality. While Rent was taking off-Broadway by storm, on opening night (and after) the cast and crew were mourning the sudden death of its brilliant creator and their beloved friend and collaborator, Jonathan Larson. Like the song for which it’s named, Without You is extremely personal and heart-wrenchingly beautiful.

Less heart-wrenching, but also insightful and honest is Love, Ellen by Betty DeGeneres. She shares the triumphs and tribulations of herself and her daughter. Years before she became a spokesperson for the Human Right’s Campaign, the conservative DeGeneres struggled to accept Ellen’s “choice” to love another woman. Love, Ellen was written to help parents understand their children, give a parent’s perspective, and help those rejected by family feel less alone. DeGeneres ends her memoir with these often easier-said-than-done words:

“Go with love, joy, peace, and happiness in your heart. Heal the world.”

I’ve been meaning to read Audrey Hepburn, an Elegent Spirit: A Son Remembers, but haven’t gotten to it yet. Written by Sean Hepburn Ferrer, it’s more a tribute than a biography. Along with being about Hepburn’s life, old collaborators such as Fred Astaire and Gary Cooper share their memories and impressions of the remarkable woman. There are also photos of Hepburn with family members, on set, and helping make the world a better place through UNICEF, which she continued to do even when the doctors said she shouldn’t. Hepburn didn’t write an autobiography because she didn’t want to draw offense, even accidentally. I still have the newspaper clipping from 1993 that told of Hepburn’s passing and her “Beauty Tips”:

“For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived,
reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand,
you will find one at the end of each of your arms.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands;
one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.”

Another autobiography I would really like to read is Jim Steinman’s. Too bad it doesn’t exist, and given his reclusive ways, most likely never will. I’m more interested in digging into Steinman’s music than his life’s details. I’d like to hear his version of the rift between himself and Meat Loaf, who gives his side in To Hell and Back. He also writes about when he and Steinman were inseparable and gives some insight into the eccentric musical genius.

So, as asked by Booking Through Thursday:

“Do you read celebrity memoirs? Which ones have you read or do you want to read? Which nonexistent celebrity memoirs would you like to see?”

Mmm, coffee, how I love thee.
Black and bitter especially,
I’ll have a mug or three.
Cream and sugar, not for me.

Written as a comment the other day and tweaked with Wordle.

©Copyright 2009, Misha Lee