Peg's (PLT's) 2013 Books and Reading

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Hi. I'm Peg, a librarian from New York City. This will be my second year with the 75ers - I've loved lurking on the many interesting threads in this group and even occasionally participating.
My reading interests run the gamut from fiction to memoirs to history to poetry and more.
I wish all the 75ers a very happy new year.

January Books
Das Doppelte Lottchen (January TIOLI Challenge #16)Review --(Shared Read)
Max und Moritz (January TIOLI Challenge #16) Review
Thoughts Without Cigarettes (January TIOLI Challenge#6)Review
Arcadia - Review
Mr. Ives' Christmas - Review
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen - Review -- (Reading Globally Group:January - March 2013 Theme Read: 20th/21st century Central and Eastern European literature)

February Books
The Road Into the Open- Review

March Books
The Gatekeepers - Review
The Cambridge Companion to the Lied : and my review
All Quiet on the Western Front -- My Review (Group Read)
The Sense of an Ending -- Review
The Bluest Eye -- Review

April Books
Behind The Beautiful Forevers -- My Review
Five Star Billionaire -- My Early Reviewer Review

May Books
You Deserve Nothing - My Review

June Books
The Toughest Show on Earth - My Review

Hi Peg! Happy Yuletide, and a wonderful year in 2013!

Hi Peg. Nice to know you're a neighbor of sorts. Maybe we New Yorkers can put together a meetup this year.

Welcome back!

>2 richardderus: Hi to you Richard. Wishing you the best in the new year!

>3 ffortsa: Hi Judy. A meetup sounds like a wonderful idea. Count me in!

>4 drneutron: Thanks Jim for all your work this past year and for once again organizing this group. All the best.

Hello from one librarian to another. Happy Reading!

Hi Peg! I found you and you're starred! Happy New Year!

Hej Peg, a librarian - I am pleased to meet a fellow librarian! Which library do you work in? I managed the library of the Pilgermission St. Chrischona (a preacher's training institute which sent over 200 German speaking pastors to the USA before WW1) for 11 years and now work at the Economics Department of the University of Basel. I did an intern ship (?? exchange librarian) for a month at Vanderbilt in Nashville.

Glad to have you back with us again, Peg!

>7 DorsVenabili: Hey Kerri - So happy to see you here. We're actually planning another attempt at a Chicago college(s) week-end visit in late January (Superstorm Sandy thwarted our last attempt. Would love recommendations for bookstores, etc.

>8 paulstalder: Hi Paul - What an interesting career you've had! I worked in corporate (mainly finance) libraries until my daughter was born. For the past 16 years, I've been working in a college library as well and love it. We have family in Basel and I remember visiting as a kid. It was beautiful.

> Yay Stasia - So glad you found my 2013 thread. I can't find yours though!?! Will keep hunting. In the meantime, best wishes for a happy new year.

Hej Peg, you have family in Basel - so you may have walked the Chrischona hill (the highest hill around Basel). If you come to Basel again, I could offer you a guided library tour (theological, economics, women's, public libraries) - would be fun. We could make an outing to the Bücherschachtel Haagen (just across the border) and you could take home all their English books home for free (well, not that many English books, sadly, only about one IKEA bookshelf).

Paul - I may take you up on the invitation! I can understand and even read German (though it takes me a very long time to read in German). Swiss German is a big challenge for me though :)

Baseldytsch isch scho speziell - aber du bisch härzlech willkomme u wird mr Müeh gä u mis beschten Änglish schwätze (do come along, I will try to speak simple ...)

Hi Peg! If you're in the Hyde Park area (University of Chicago), there are a few great used and new bookstores there, including Powell's, 57th Street Books, and the Seminary Co-Op bookstore, which moved to a new location recently. The rest are kind of scattered about, but that's a good place to go where you can hit several at once.

I would suggest a meet-up, but I'll be gone from January 23 through February 2. Is that when you'll be here?

Also Myopic Books in Wicker Park (used books).

#10: I do not have a thread set up yet, Peg, so do not strain your eyes too much looking for it :)

Hi Peg, found your thread and have starred it! Looking forward to following your reading in 2013.

.... and before I forget, I want to wish you a Happy New Year!

> 13: Haha Paul - Incredibly, I DID understand your message. Es war wahnsinnig schwierig aber komisch! Mir raucht der Kopf - genau deshalb soll ich es nur Englisch sprechen! Inzwischen, Ich wünsche Ihnen einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr u Ich freue mich auf Ihr Blog (Wie heißt *thread* auf Deutsch?) lesen.

>14 DorsVenabili: &15: Kerri, thank you so very much! UChicago is actually the school my daughter is most eager to see, and she was thrilled to get your recommendations. As is typical with us, we're still not sure when we will go, but it is possible that it overlaps with the time you aren't in town. I'll keep you posted.

>16 alcottacre:: Stasia - that would explain a lot. Overanxious, I guess :). I'll keep my eye out for your 2013 thread.

>17 lkernagh:: Thank you Lori. Same and best wishes for a very happy New Year to you.

Happy New Year. And here's a toast to good books in the new year, too.

Hallo Peg, leave the 'Sie' and say 'Du'. We use 'thread' in German, too. the meaning would be 'eine Folge von Diskussionsbeiträgen in einem Forum'

A blessed new 2013

I wish you the best year yet, Peg - and that includes a lot of reading!

Happy New Year, Peg! I love the cat asleep in your library!

>19 maggie1944:: Karen, wishing you a very happy New Year and thanks for popping by! I look forward to reading your always interesting book reviews and keeping up on news about the new puppy.

>20 paulstalder:: Okay Paul - strictly "du" from here on in! And thanks for the "thread" translation and definition. Looks like I need a more up-to-date English/German dictionary!

>21 LizzieD:: Peggy! Thank you so much for your lovely *card*. Very best wishes to you and yours for a happy New Year.

>22 gennyt:: Genny, thank you so much for visiting. I also love this drawing - the cat looks very much like my guy, Casey. Okay, so maybe my guy is a little more *well-fed*, or big-boned as I like to tell the vet :).

Das Doppelte Lottchen
by Erich Kastner
I selected this book and the one that follows for the January TIOLI challenge to read German children’s books. Both had sentimental value for me as they were books from my childhood (my parents were both born in Germany).
Erich Kästner’s Das Doppelte Lottchen was translated into English as Lisa and Lottie, but its plot is probably most familiar to American movie goers of both the 1960’s and 1990’s as The Parent Trap. The basic plot device has been used by many authors from Charles Dickens to Mark Twain and even to Shakespeare: separated twins who meet as strangers and conspire to switch identities. In this case, two identical girls serendipitously meet at summer camp and discover that they are in fact twins whose parents, upon divorcing, each took one twin to live with them. The twins switch places and return to the home of the other parent with the goal of reuniting them. Of course, havoc ensues since though they look alike, each twin has a distinct and opposing personality.
Kästner presents this story in a playful and almost silly manner. Some of this playfulness is writing style, some is the language (although the language in his other famous children’s novel Emil and the Detectives” is even sillier). I couldn’t help but think of the heavy-handed manner that divorce (or any other “issue”) might be portrayed in contemporary children’s literature.
Kästner also gives the young reader a lighthearted opportunity to explore one’s sense of self and identity, showing us “Odd Couple” extremes and demonstrating how, in the end these extremes are tempered by coming together. Finally, it wasn’t until I re-read this book now that I saw the theme of re-unification. Kästner wrote the book in 1949 in a post-war divided Germany. Maybe it’s a stretch, but could this book also have been an appeal for a reunified nation?

Max und Moritz
by Wilhelm Busch
Several years ago when visiting Vienna, we attended (at my insistence) a ballet based on Wilhelm Busch’s children’s classic Max and Moritz. It’s a book I grew up with and one that was read to me from an early age. We in the audience laughed heartily at Max and Moritz’s antics and even the ballet music – Rossini - was cheerful and bubbly. I turned and saw my husband and daughter seated next to me in open-mouthed shock and horror!
Max and Moritz: A Children’s Story in Seven Parts, was written during the mid-19th Century and is a story, told in rhyming couplets, of two boys who play tricks on various people in the community. Eventually, they get their comeuppance, much to the satisfaction of the targets of their misdeeds. Intended to be a cautionary tale about naughty or bad behavior (in the manner of another German classic: Der Struwwelpeter), both the tricks and the punishment are over-the-top. The tricks, which include an attempted drowning and explosions, are all at the expense of very proper, upstanding members of the community who are (naturally) outraged. The eventual punishment is also extreme!

What is noteworthy about this book (apart from the extreme violence) is the format of the book. Max and Moritz is the pre-cursor of the comic book complete with onomatopoeia, invented language and other language devices typically used to describe the action in comics. The language is playful and intended to be an accompaniment to the illustrations. Each character is illustrated as a caricature and in fact, I’ve always thought that the boys themselves bear a striking resemblance to Laurel and Hardy.
There is no question that the humor in this book is cruel so after the performance and after re-reading the book now, I wondered why we often are inclined to laugh at cruelty. I am thinking particularly of some types of slapstick humor - the premise of which is often to laugh at the misfortunes or even (often inflicted) pain, of others. So too, some of the cartoons we grew up watching were extremely violent and in ways, similar to Max and Moritz (didn’t Wily Coyote always get his?). Maybe this kind of hyperbole serves to underscore the purpose of the violence - retribution, ignorance, disobedience, etc. Because we understand that it's not real, we can take in the lesson without being appalled. Whatever the intentions, Max and Moritz is fascinating both for its social commentary as well as its importance in the history of the development of children’s literature and the graphic novel/cartoon.

Hej Peg, your book descriptions are far more detailed than mine... Kästner was peace loving, so the split of the country may have an appeal for unification. The setting of Seebühl in the middle between Munich and Vienna, not in dicating which country, may also point in this direction. As with Die Konferenz der Tiere the solution comes along by scheming. With Max und Moritz you're also concerning cruelty: the tricks of the boys and the punishment are only funny as long as you don't think about the pain they cause.

Peg, I had a similar experience to your family's when I went to see what I think was the English language version of Der Struwellpeter on Broadway a couple of years ago. Cruelty is one of the problems I have always had with many forms of comedy or even some reality shows - for instance, the old Candid Camera.

I think the reason we are able to laugh at Wile E. Coyote is that we know the piano he was just hit with has done him no harm. In fact, that makes it funnier. But when more realistic characters are involved, or unwilling people, I get very uncomfortable, and can't laugh.

Oddly, I never felt that the fairy tales I heard and read as a child were horrible. Really, think of Hansel and Gretel! But some were sad. I saw a new production of The Red Shoes from Britain a couple of years ago at BAM, full of horrible, bloody stuff, and thought it marvelous - but not necessarily funny.

I think I'll keep my modern Murrikin sensibilities away from that last. But thanks for the meditation on the nature of its humor. I think you're spot on. I'm just a bit squeamish about unkindness.

#25 - Hi Peg - Wonderful analysis of comedy violence. I'm never quite sure where I stand on the issue, but others have made excellent points. I do know that I've always been terribly annoyed by the Three Stooges and that sort of thing, but I think it's due more to my dislike of people shrieking and talking at the same time, rather than that I'm taking a moral stand against the violence.

>26 paulstalder:: Paul, of course you are right about the neutral and stateless location of the summer camp. It's fascinating to read these stories now, with adult eyes. I have Kastner's book Grosse Zeiten kleine Auswahl, a collection of poetry, essays and stories. I've never read it and now I think I'll give it a try.

>27 ffortsa:: Hi Judy. You are referring to *Shockheaded Peter* I think. I saw it too. What I particularly liked about that production (which had to be one of the most bizarre pieces of theater I've ever seen) was that the play underscored the combination of absurdity and ghoulishness of these stories in a way that the book itself does not. But if you weren't familiar with the book, the play must have been a heck of an introduction!

>28 richardderus:: Ha Richard! Love the understatement (unkind, huh?).

29> Kerri, I was telling my husband about this thread last night and he also specifically mentioned the Three Stooges (he liked them as much as he liked the Max & Moritz ballet). I guess children's television took up the mantle of comic violence where the Victorian children's authors left off!

Yes, that play exactly. We may even have left at intermission. We are not normally put.off by strange theater, but this one did us in.

I hated the Three Stooges as a kid as well as most slap stick humor. I appreciate Charlie Chaplin's ability to do the physical part of his acting but even that upset me. Maybe because I was a bit clumsy as a kid, and I did not like being laughed at, and I think that is why I identified with the poor saps who were being slapped, or who fell down too often. Some how Hansel and Gretel was, to me, an obvious story to tell children to not wander away from their parents or they might be left behind, and goodness knows what might happen.

I still avoid physical humor. Much prefer the play on words. Although Carol Burnett did handle physical humor a bit better.

Interesting topic.

>31 ffortsa:: Judy, Yeah, even if you were familiar with the book, that was one creepy play.

>32 maggie1944:: Karen - I also think wordplay can be funnier, more effective and way more memorable - both in children's literature as well as adult literature. I also think one of the reasons Carol Burnett's physical humor was so funny (like Lucille Ball) was that there was no cruelty in that slapstick. But there does seem to be a long history of humor tied to cruel humor in children's literature and entertainment - Think of Punch and Judy and the commedia dell' arte tradition it came from. That was pretty nasty stuff too!

I think it is a modern invention, perhaps due to the invention of psychology, sociology, etc., to try to stop children's cruelty to each other. For centuries children were pretty much let alone to work out their aggressions on each other and those with superior fighting or deflecting skills would win. Many a comic began their careers by avoiding being beaten up by cracking a good joke. Reading through some of the growing up books... lots of fights. Interesting. Now a days, kids are taught in school how to come up with problem solving techniques so they can avoid busting each other in the nose.

>34 maggie1944:: Karen -- Interesting thought. You may be right. A lot of the oldtime comics were scrappy sorts, who probably used humor to deflect tough situations.

Thoughts Without Cigarettes
by Oscar Hijuelos

I read this book as part of the TIOLI challenge #6 - a book that I downloaded a long time ago to my ereader (shortly before I joined the 2012 75 group and got distracted!).
The memoir by the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos was an absolute delight that pulled me in from the first page. Hijuelos writes about his struggle with his identity and his journey to discover who he is both as a writer and even more fundamentally, as a person.
He begins by painting an almost dreamlike picture of his parent’s beginnings in their native Cuba. Shortly after their unlikely marriage in the 1940’s (neither family is thrilled with their union), they immigrate to Morningside Heights on New York’s Upper West Side. He recounts their struggles and adjustment to an entirely different kind of life both financially and culturally. Oscar and his brother are immersed in their family’s culture and language, which culminates in a trip the boys take with their mother back to Cuba. Though he was only four at the time, Hijuelos recounts the pure joy and freedom he experiences there. While the trip and his happy experiences there should have instilled in him, a love of his ancestral home, he develops nephritis and upon returning to the U.S., is confined for a year to a convalescent hospital in Connecticut. The experience leaves him isolated and cut off from both his family and culture. One way this rupture is manifest is that upon his return home, he no longer speaks Spanish.
Hijuelos describes further attempts at independence from both his overprotective mother and his family in general as he grows up in a dangerous time and place. He witnesses what happens to his neighborhood as Columbia University expands & the university dispossesses huge swaths of neighborhood residents. What had been an economically and culturally diverse neighborhood, replete with Columbia professors, working class and middle class residents, becomes a dangerous, marginalized and crime ridden area. Hijuelos rejects his culture and his home and essentially becomes a streetwise *hood*, both preying and being preyed upon. Eventually, to even his surprise, he enrolls in City College. It is there that he meets and is mentored by the likes of Donald Barthelme and Susan Sontag and discovers writing. It is more or less through this discovery that he re-discovers and comes to appreciate and love both his roots and his family.
At times, like a contemporary Proust, his memories are sparked by the foods that symbolize his relationship with each of his parents, with his community and culture. Hijuelos’s writing style is conversational and often funny (complete with little asides to both the reader and those to whom he is referring). His eventual embrace of his personal and cultural heritage is told in an informal and earthy style and in the end, had me in tears.

Very nice review! I'm going to have to keep a look-out for this one since I'm determined to read more memoirs this year!

Thoughts Without Cigarettes sounds fascinating.

Well, rats. My local library has several of Hijuelos books, but not that one. I will add it to the BlackHole though in the hopes that one day I can get my hands on a copy. Thanks for the review and recommendation, Peg!

Great review of Thoughts Without Cigarettes, Peg. I own this book, so I'll move it higher on my TBR list.

>37 whitewavedarling:: Thanks for your kind words Jen. It's really a terrific memoir and you might especially enjoy it since he spends a lot of time talking about his writing process!

>38 arubabookwoman:: Hey Deborah: Thanks for dropping by. Your booklist looks great and your inclusion of Cousin Bette reminded me that I started that book a couple of years ago (after loving Pere Goriot) and completely lost track of it - how does that happen? Thanks to you, it's back on my pile again.

>39 alcottacre:: Stasia - Just checked my Nook to see if the Hijuelos memoir is one of those *Lend Me* books. Sadly, it's not - I think I bought it before they started that system. Ah well.

>40 kidzdoc:: Darryl - I would have written sooner, but I've just spent the past hour going through all the booklists you've linked on your thread!

oh, Peg, you just gave me a great idea for one of my f2f book club. I don't think we've read any Balzac. Thanks.

>42 ffortsa:: Judy, his stuff would be great for discussion! We can both thank Deborah's (arubabookwoman) 2013 TBR list for the reminder. This is looking like a trend.

hi Peg

I'll be sure to visit here frequently.

Thanks Linda - and I have been lurking over on yours as well. That's really lovely of you to say.

Arcadia
by Lauren Groff
I read the review for this book about a year ago and put it on my TBR list right away. This novel which tracks the lives of members of an upstate New York commune – Arcadia - during the 1970’s and then through its dissolution, into the present and finally in the near future, sounded really interesting. Indeed, the book takes one back to a time when it seemed everything was possible, even the creation of a utopia. There was a lot I enjoyed about this book and some things that really annoyed me and detracted from the writing.
Groff’s writing can be beautiful and eloquent though it occasionally veers toward the overly florid and pretentious, in my opinion. Her characters (particularly Bit, the main character), are fully drawn and complex and I found myself completely involved in their lives. The story is told in the third person through Bit’s eyes. We meet him at the age of five and Groff succeeds in presenting us with his worldview at this young and innocent age and then, as he matures as a teen and ultimately as an adult.
The description of Arcadia as Utopia is also interesting. We see sincere individuals who strive to create a better, nurturing and more ethical society. We follow their stories and the story of Arcadia as deception, outside influences and corruption creep in and fray the seams of this once tightly knit community. Interestingly, Arcadia is located near an Amish community. Arcadia, which has (at best) tenuous rules, advances the idea of individual freedom. This kind of utopia cannot endure, whereas, common faith and sacrifice for the good of the group allows the Amish to flourish.
So what was my problem with the book? Simply that Groff does not want to give her reader credit for understanding her meaning. Instead, she often gives her characters dialog that summarizes the meaning for us. This kind of writing infuriates me. If the author wants to expound on reasons for the dissolution of the principles and ideals that led to the founding of United States as an experiment as a “more perfect” society, she might have written an essay to make explicit her beliefs and thoughts. She instead clobbers the reader over the head with this notion through some very artificial and "preachy" sounding dialog. The best stories let the story evoke the concepts. She is also terribly politically correct. For example, an African-American child brought up in Arcadia grows up to become a commentator on a conservative cable channel. Funny enough, but Groff won’t let this go and wears us out by insulting him over and over and over again.
In all, I did enjoy the story and felt connected to the main characters. Even with its flaws, it's a book worth reading.

Nice review, Peg. I've had that one on my wish list but I may rethink that now...

>47 katiekrug:: Katie, it's not a bad book, but aspects of it irritated me. By the way, I've just caught up on your thread. Your critique of Swamplandia echoes exactly my criticism of Arcadia -- only you did it so much better and more thoroughly!

#36 - Hi Peg! Great review of Thoughts Without Cigarettes. I don't end up reading many memoirs for some unknown reason, but this sounds fascinating, and I've put it on my list.

#46 - I've been wanting to read this, but I have a feeling that I'll be annoyed by the some of the same things. Also, hippies tend to wear me out (I say that in the most loving way). I think I'll still give it a try though.

Thanks, Peg, re: my review of Swamplandia! It's one of those books that is so flawed but I couldn't help liking it in spite of itself!

>49 DorsVenabili:: Hey Kerri. I loved the Hijuelos memoir enough so that I'm actually reading one of his novels now (yeah, I know that's kinda backwards, but....). Re:Arcadia, I totally agree that hippie-dippy stuff is tiresome, but the book isn't really steeped in that mindset. It's actually an okay book, but I felt either she didn't give enough credit to the reader to figure out the *meaning* of the book, or she was a lazy and/or weak writer who couldn't/wouldn't let the story speak for itself.

>50 katiekrug::Katie, exactly!

Mr. Ives' Christmas
by Oscar Hijuelos

Recently, Paul Elias wrote an article in the NYT Book Review entitled “Has Fiction Lost Its Faith”. He states that “if any patch of our culture can be said to be post-Christian, it is literature”. Interestingly enough Oscar Hijuelos wrote in response that in fact, his book Mr. Ives’ Christmas refuted Elias’ claim. Indeed, Mr. Ives’ Christmas is at once a very contemporary and very ancient story. By the way, there are no spoilers in this review, since the pivotal incident in the book is described at the beginning of the book.
Major events in Edward Ives’ life all take place around Christmastime. An orphan, he is adopted during the holidays by a very kind man of deep faith who instills in Ives a love of both tradition and religion. As an adult, Ives meets the love of his life and together they build a family and a happy life surrounded by good friends. He meets increasing success and fulfillment in his career and all the while, maintains his devotion to his church and beliefs. He relishes accumulating family memories as well the conventions and ceremonial trappings of religion (music, Christmas cards, etc) and almost as a reflection of these mementos, takes pride in his collectibles, notably a first edition signed copies of novels by Charles Dickens.
He shares his love for the church with his family and is very pleased and proud when his son decides to become a priest. After holiday shopping with his wife, one Christmas, he returns home to find that his son has been the fatal victim of a random shooting. He questions his fundamental beliefs and his faith and his life are shattered. This is the story of how he deals with this tragedy, and the nature of his faith.
The reconciliation between divine power and innocent suffering and the question of why bad things happen to good people has been the subject of discussion since (and probably before) the writing of the Book of Job and is an issue that is addressed in every culture and in every faith. Like Job, Ives is surrounded by friends who attempt to address his grief either through retribution or explanations for the tragedy. Like Job too, Ives also experiences a theophany when after a frightening experience, he leaves his Madison Avenue office and has a vision of a gigantic sun and a multi-colored wind. Ives learns to live with faith that isn’t grounded in reason. His clarity doesn’t come from certainty or tradition, but ultimately from passion, compassion, and the courage to embrace spirituality.
Hijuelos may have written about profound concepts, but his writing style is straightforward, quiet, at times humorous, occasionally magical and always very engaging. He is, at heart, a storyteller, but his story leaves one with much more to think about. It is a marvelous book.

Sounds like it is a bit heart-wrenching as well... Would you call it sad?

Hi Tina,
Thanks so much for your visit. I've popped over to your thread(s) now and you are now starred.
I think I'd describe the book as more quiet than sad. The author doesn't hit you over the head with the tragedy and there is something uplifting about the way he ends the story.

Hi, Peg. Your review of the Hijuelos book makes it sound interesting, but I don't know that I'll ever get to it. I'm trying to remember whether I was as irritated as you about Arcadia, but it's too long ago. All I have left is warm fuzzies and a general plot-line and Bit. I know I hoped that it would show up on this year's Orange list.

>55 LizzieD:: Thanks for stopping by Peggy. Yeah, that's about all I care to remember about Arcadia at this point as well. I too like Bit though.

Just came over to say hello

Hello to you and thanks for the lovely review of your most recent read.

>57 paulstalder: Hi Paul! So happy to *see* you here! I've been lurking over at your thread as well.

>58 Whisper1: Linda, hi! Thanks for your kind words. So glad to read that you are doing well. Love the reviews over on your thread.

This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen
by: Tadeusz Borowski

Not for the faint of heart, this one.
There are three facets of Borowski’s work that I believe make his writing unique in Holocaust literature: The sardonic yet emotionless narrative, the almost visceral sense of chaotic desperation and terror experienced by the arriving transports and finally, the numbness that develops when witnessing industrialized, mechanized and assembly-line mass murder.
The title as well as the tone of many of the stories bears a cutting, almost mocking quality which might be seen by some as offensive. In my opinion though, the authenticity of a survivor’s testimony can give integrity to this tone and it certainly does in this case. Borowski was a Polish non-Jew imprisoned as a laborer in Auschwitz. He worked in a kommando – a work gang. Though his life was always in danger, he was not slated for the crematoria. He was often put in charge of other laborers and the fictional stories (which are thinly veiled memoirs) portray the ways in which he bartered for food, clothing and survival in general. In fact the power struggles among the ranks of inmates is gruesomely depicted in these stories. The stories underscore how, where survival is the sole goal, one’s humanity is stripped away in order to endure. The fact that Borowski presents these stories in a very subdued matter of fact manner while underscoring the complete absurdity of this existence gives them even greater impact.

We said that there is no crime that a man will not commit in order to save himself. And, having saved himself, he will commit crimes for increasingly trivial reasons: he will commit them first out of duty, then from habit and finally – for pleasure.

The running theme of Borowski’s stories is the industrialized and nearly mechanical nature of the death camps. Borowski describes the ceaseless pattern of the march to the crematoria from the unloading of transports upon arrival to the color and smell of the smoke. He is the detached observer, dryly recounting the standard operating procedure that enabled the death camps to implement mass murder in an efficient and industrialized manner. It sounds impossible, but Borowski describes the terror and chaos in numb and methodical tones. No other book I’ve read (and I’ve been fairly obsessed with this topic throughout my life so, I’ve read a lot) has ever resounded so profoundly or frighteningly.
I highly recommend this book, but I will say, that it's not for everyone.

Great review of This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, Peg. Lisa also wrote a compelling review of it this month, so I'll look for this book soon.

> 60 - Great review for what would be a rather daunting read for me!

>61 kidzdoc:: Darryl,
I saw her wonderful review. Glad to read that you're doing better. Loving your booklists and reviews.

>62 lkernagh:: Good to see you Linda and glad that you too are back on the road to health - now that I think about it, January was a bad health month for many 75ers. Happy to see February roll around. Yeah, this is one tough book.

Great review, Peg. It seems that we had similar responses. The quote you chose is perfect for describing the tone of the book.

Thanks for your kind words Peg!

#60 - Hi Peg - Excellent review of This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen. It sounds like a powerful way to present the subject matter. I'll put this one on my list.

>64 labfs39:: Lisa, Thanks so much for stopping by. I wrote to you on the Global Reading thread, but wanted to let you know how much I've been enjoying your terrific reviews.

>66 DorsVenabili:: Kerri hi! Welcome home. I've been following your adventures on your recent trip. I've always wanted to go to Powells. Just sounds like heaven. Glad you had a good time.

The Road Into the Open
by: Arthur Schnitzler

Minor Spoiler Alert!

The Road Into the Open is an unnerving and prescient indictment of early 20th century Vienna and the disintegration of a civilization’s culture. Schnitzler uses, I believe, the symbolism of child/parent to describe, both literally and figuratively, the hopelessness and demise of a once thriving, industrious and creative culture. That the book was written in 1908, pre-dating both world wars is truly astonishing.
The novel follows Baron Georg von Wergenthin, an aristocratic young composer over the course of a year that begins with the death of his father and ends with the stillborn birth of his illegitimate son. During this time, we meet his friends and acquaintances and many of their parents. We witness firsthand the growing and ominous development of overt anti-Semitism. We also observe the birth of Zionism as well as expansion of socialism.
The characters in the book (and there are so many that it’s tough to keep up initially) all are deeply rooted in the customs and mores of the time but many – most prominently the book’s protagonist - seem to languish in those customs without a sense of direction or purpose. Others see something threatening in Vienna’s political and societal direction and become either desperate or look for escape. The overriding sense of looming menace is pervasive throughout the novel.
This is a fascinating book on so many levels – as a work of fiction, as a psychological and cultural study and finally, as a peek into the times. It is a gloomy and sad book, but one that I found I couldn’t put down.

> 69 - That is great! Is it a wall plaque?

>70 lkernagh: Good Morning Lori and thanks for visiting! This is actually one of a series of plaques located on the sidewalk of what's called "Library Way"- E.41st Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues on the "way" to the main library building on Fifth Avenue here in NYC.

Love the plaque! What it must be to live in NYC!!!
I don't know about the Schnitzler, but I have the Borowski, and your fine review moves it up Mt. Bookpile. I wonder whether you've read Life with a Star by Jiri Weil? I ask because it became my most affecting novel of the Holocaust in 2010. It's set in Nazi-occupied Prague, and is harrowing and beautiful.

Oh Peggy hello! I've been enjoying lurking on your very active and interesting thread. So glad you stopped by. I read Jiri Weil'sMendelssohn is on the Roof many years ago and I loved it. So now that you've recommended Life with a Star, on to my growing book pile it goes.

Hello all.
I'm taking what I hope is not an inappropriate moment to let LT folks in the New York area know about a special reading on March 13 as part of a benefit for/celebration of an organization called Writopia Lab
- an incredible writing community for kids aged 8-18 (I'm on the Board). This event takes place on March 13 and will feature readings by Nicole Krauss, Freakonomics author, Stephen Dubner and Reg E. Gaines.

Librarythingers are invited at 1/2 price ($30) - Please indicate that you are an LTer on the check or Writopia website
I would would love to see you there. If cost is a hardship or problem, please PM me. I would be honored if you came as my guest.

The reader list sounds enticing, but Jim and I have such a busy month, I'm not sure we can afford the evening out (in terms of energy, that is). But thanks for letting us know.

Judy - Thanks for letting me know. I felt a bit awkward "publicizing" this here, but I thought it might be of some interest to local folks.

We'll have to wait for a another time for a local LT meet-up of some sort.

Again, thanks for your note.

#74 - Hi Peg! This sounds like a great event (and organization) - too bad I live in Chicago.

Thanks Kerri. It really is a terrific organization.

The Gatekeepers
by Jacques Steinberg

Okay -- a little detour in my reading here.
Unlike other college books that are
intended to be "how to's", The Gatekeepers puts human faces on both the kids and the college admissions personnel who have vested interests in the process. Beginning in 1999, Jacques Steinberg of the New York Times, was given unfettered access to both a select group of high school seniors and the admissions department of Wesleyan University. It is through their eyes that he observes the selection process for that year.
What is most moving about this book is that way that Steinberg shows us how agonizing and personal the process is for both sides of this process. Steinberg is a terrific writer and gives us the back stories of each "character". In doing so, his book makes for captivating reading. We want to know more about these individuals.I found myself rooting for some of these kids as they begin to struggle for a place in the world. More than anything else, the book reinforces that this is a very human process, in which individuals on both sides of the "gate" bring his or her own hopes and dreams.
By shining a very personal light on the applications process, the book also underscores the more universal concerns of both colleges and and students including access to education and the issue of fairness in the process.
I don't know that I would have read the book if the issue wasn't something that was close to home right now, but it is a compelling read and there were many occasions when I had to control the lump in my throat.
The edition of the book I read contains an afterword that updates us on all the individuals who were profiled (both the admissions personnel and the students) and after we had come to know these people during this fixed time period of their lives, it was heartwarming to read about their place in the world today.
So now, back to my All Quiet on the Western Front group read!

Nice review of The Gatekeepers, Peg!

Thanks Darryl and thanks for stopping by.

#79 - Hi Peg - This sounds fascinating, although I probably won't run out to find it at this point. As you said, I'm sure that topic is hitting close to home right about now.

Just added a post about the death of Chinua Achebe to the In Memoriam thread.

The Cambridge Companion to the Lied
by: James Parsons

In the Beginning Was Poetry”

The title of this chapter sets the tone (pardon the pun) for this book on the Lied or Austrian-German art song. Arguably the most sublime and personal musical genre, Lieder perfectly combine poetry with music. This book, a compilation of essays presents an in-depth study of the genre, its development, cultural and musical significance and interpretation. I found some essays were more interesting than others, but taken in the whole, the book gives the reader a fantastic historical framework and analysis of both some of the individual songs and composers, as well as the rise and fall of Lieder.
The book begins with a time-line and is then broken into chronological sections that focus on the lied’s development, stature and ultimate demise nearly 200 years later. The book examines the zenith of the Lied with an appropriate, though by no means exclusive, focus on Schubert. The reader comes to understand how this art form evolved from intimate performances at home, from songs or ballads that have their roots in folk songs and other cultural influences to exquisitely beautiful, musically sophisticated concert hall performances.
One of my favorite essays is by the pianist and Lieder accompanist, Graham Johnson. He provides a light, very honest, funny and completely unpretentious look at the trials and tribulations of the Lied, its performance and performers and its cultural significance. Astonishingly, he even takes a gentle swipe at one of the “gods” of the Lied, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, whom Johnson accompanied many, many times.
Okay, so this book won’t be made into a “major motion picture, coming to a theater near you” anytime soon. But it is unpretentious and non-technical and for many who have an almost visceral love for this genre, I recommend it highly.

Good review, Peg. I am thrilled beyond saying that I don't have to deal with college applications now. I won't read the book, but I appreciate your review!
Whoa! We cross-posted. Let me read your review of *Lied* - another one that I won't read but I'm glad for the information, I'm sure. I have a favorite CD set of Jessye Norman singing Brahms lieder accompanied by Daniel Barenboim - gorgeous! sublime!

Hi Peggy - thanks for your visit. Hah - I completely understand your joy at not having to deal with this college stuff. So different from my college app. days.
The Lied book was interesting and the Johnson chapter in particular might interest you since he writes a lot about his experience as a pianist for these singers.

>85 LizzieD:: PS Peggy, I love Jessye Norman - what a powerhouse she is. But I've never heard her in recital. Will definitely look into the recording you mention.

All Quiet On the Western Front
by: Erich Maria Remarque
(Group Read)
I read this book, and several equally harrowing anti-war novels (notably Johnny Got His Gun) when I was in high school during the Vietnam War. I remember the book had a huge impact on me then, but re-reading it now, I am struck not just by the story and message, but the reason that this book is so impactful.
The story is told in first person by Paul Bäumer, who, with the nationalistic prodding of his bumptious schoolteacher enlists in the army at the outset of World War One. The book’s language is direct, simple and completely devastating. It is through Paul's eyes that the reader sees trench warfare, chemical warfare, night-time sentry duty, hospital stays and home leave.
The story is written so that recounting events is secondary to creating the sense of immediacy and of being there. The story is evocative, that is, it is a series of impressions that expose the consciousness and emotional state of an individual in combat. Remarque removes the barrier between the reader and Paul and it is through Paul's lens that we witness and experience his terror of losing life before it has begun, his bitterness toward those who promote and incite conflict yet relegate the fight to others, his horror at the impossibly brutal and gruesome deaths of those around him, his despair of a life of unending misery and his recognition of his developing callousness and loss of humanity that combatants require to survive. We experience his consciousness of the experience of the war. And I believe it is this experience that makes Paul’s horrific journey so spellbinding to the reader.

"We have become wild beasts. We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation. It is not against men that we fling our bombs, what do we know of men in the moment when Death is hunting us down.."

Wow, great review Peg. You've summed it up beautifully.

Thanks Linda. I think we had similar reactions to re-reading this one.

Great review of All Quiet on the Western Front, Peg. I'll have to get to it one of these days.

Thanks Darryl. Definitely one of those "must reads" at some point in one's life. Left you virtual birthday cupcakes on your thread -- Happy Birthday.

The Sense of an Ending
by: Julian Barnes

"History is the certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation."

The Sense of an Ending is all about history; but this book focuses on our histories, that is, our personal histories, the way that we remember, the way those around us remember and where the truth lies.
The story is prosaic enough -- Barnes writes elegantly and sparsely about Tony Webster, a fairly ordinary man who has lived a fairly ordinary life. One day, he hears from a lawyer regarding a bequest to him from the newly deceased mother of Veronica, a former girlfriend from his student days. The bequest includes the diary of a dead mutual friend who also had been Veronica’s lover at one time. Veronica has possession of the diary and refuses to hand it over.
Tony’s relationship with Veronica had been fraught with tensions, misunderstandings and resentments and his pursuit of this diary and the former girlfriend’s intransigence allow the two to reconnect and reexamine the relationship they had, and reignites old resentments. Tony doesn’t just want the diary he's been bequeathed, but wants to know why Veronica’s mother had it at all and why Veronica refuses to let him have it.
The answers he ultimately discovers come at a price – the price of self-awareness, self-knowledge and a more truthful and difficult appraisal of who he really is.
The book is concisely written yet fully captures Tony’s mind-set, feelings and character. Though the message behind the story is serious, much of the book is presented in a light-hearted manner. We watch Tony’s evolution as he becomes aware that his life as he chose to recall it does not depict complete reality. The twists and turns that are revealed do not feel contrived. On the contrary, they pack a punch for the reader as much as for the main character.

The Bluest Eye
by Toni Morrison
Morrison addresses so many issues in this compelling yet devastating book, but the dominant one is the effect of entrenched racism on individuals.
The story centers mainly on Pecola Breedlove, a young girl who, when she is noticed at all, is the object of vicious cruelty by her classmates, her neighbors and most appallingly, by her parents. Tormented by everyone, Pecola is convinced that the reason for everyone’s brutality toward her is her ugliness, that is, that she is darker than everyone else. Because of what her skin color and hair represent, Pecola is the family and community target and scapegoat. In her desperation for acceptance, she tries to attain society’s image of beauty. Pecola drinks quarts and quarts of milk in a Shirley Temple mug, hoping to drink in not only the whiteness of the milk, but the blueness of Shirley Temple’s eyes. Eventually, she begins to pray each night for blue eyes.
The book also details the stories of Pecola’s parents and the two girls who are kind to her. Each of these characters has methods of dealing with their own or vicarious experience with racist cruelty, animosity and humiliation. These methods range from immersion in and exclusive love for a white employer to preemptive hostility and in one case criminality and extreme violence. This last instance demonstrates the exertion of power on one who has even less power.
Apart from the story itself, I think that what makes this book so compelling is the writing style. Most chapters begin with excerpts from the old Dick and Jane reading primer. Simple idyllic statements about white families living a comfortable life run into each other and become a driving and ironic counterpoint to the plot and characters’ situations. Most of the story is narrated by the two girls who show Pecola some compassion, but there are several chapters describing various characters and their histories that seem to be in the author’s voice. These different voices might be viewed as distracting and incongruous in another book, but here serve as part of the fluid trajectory of this heartbreaking story. This is a really tough story to read, but is rendered beautifully and powerfully.

I edited #93 to include a (quickly written) review of this terrific book.

Thanks for that review. Sounds interesting.

Hi Peg!

#93 - Surely, I'll read this some day, but for some reason I keep avoiding it. Your comments help move it up the pile a bit.

#94 - Powerful, indeed. It's been so long since I've read this - I look forward to your comments.

Nice review of The Sense of an Ending, Peg. That was probably my favorite novel of 2011, and I'm long overdue for a re-read of it.

My review of The Bluest Eye is here. #94

>96 paulstalder: Grüß dich Paul. I am so glad you stopped by. I've been keeping up with your life by reading your thread. Interesting and fun reading you are doing and the photos are terrific!

>97 DorsVenabili: Hey Kerri! I wasn't sure about The Sense of an Ending myself, but when I finally opened the book, I read it in one sitting.

>98 kidzdoc: Hey Darryl. So glad you are back to health! Thought of you when I decided to read the Barnes book -- he is after all,
a Booker award winner. I see you're beginning the Tash Aw book. I started another book now -- the Tash Aw book will come after that for me.

Behind The Beautiful Forevers
By: Katherine Boo

Katherine Boo has written a powerful and affecting book as she tells the story of individuals who live in one of Mumbai’s many overcrowded, dangerous and filthy slums. In her afterword, Boo reminds us that although India has become a powerful nation and an economic force with which to be reckoned, its population represents one third of the poverty, and one-quarter of the hunger, on the planet. Though she gives us this shocking statistic and there is no doubt that she has done extensive research and legwork, her talent lies in her writing. She presents us with the stories of a few individuals in a specific slum and in doing so gives us a reality that is at once intimate and personal as well as providing a sense of the collective experience. It is also noteworthy I think, that these stories unfold without any sense that the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist that Boo is, is reporting. Through dialog, narrative, and description, Boo brings drama to this story in a way that is usually the reserved domain of the best novelists.

Boo tells the stories of individuals who live in the Annawadi slum located behind Mumbai’s international airport. The juxtaposition of this modern airport with its neighboring ultra-modern, luxurious hotels and this filthy, disease-ridden, garbage-laden and overpopulated village abutting what residents call the sewage “lake” is striking and symbolic of the issues Boo attempts to highlight.

Boo chronicles the story of Abdul and his family as they stand accused of beating their crippled neighbor and setting her on fire. The family’s desperate attempts to maneuver through a corrupt criminal justice and legal system that works almost exclusively on bribery (if it works at all) bring them into close contact with another family in the slum – that of Asha, the politically connected and striving slum leader and her family. Their stories and their struggles to survive are often horrifying and always pitiful.

The title comes from a billboard that separates the slum from the airport hotels. The billboard advertises a flooring company, whose slogan Beautiful Forevers, is repeated over and over again. It is the perfect symbol and the perfect title for this terrific and heartbreaking book.

Nice review of Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Peg. I'll get to it, one of these days...

Just checking in to say that RL has been interfering with my reading these past couple of weeks. I'm reading Five Star Billionaire and enjoying it, but it's taking longer than it should. Ah well...

That RL always seems to get in the way. Glad you're enjoying it, despite the interference of RL.

Yay!! I won an Early Reviewers copy of The Forgiven by Lawrence Osborne. Now if I could just sit back an do my reading.....
Almost done with Five Star Billionaire. Darryl -- how did you finish that in one sitting???

>104 plt: Peg, I read the first 50 or so pages of Five Star Billionaire on one day, then finished on a subsequent day in one sitting, as I couldn't put it down.

Five Star Billionaire
by: Tash Aw

Yay!! I did it. I finished my first Early Review book. Today, I am an Early Reviewer. Such a milestone. So proud..

So here it is:

Tash Aw’s Five Star Billionaire captures in mesmerizing detail, the intertwining stories of five very different people who come from Malaysia to Shanghai in pursuit of fame and fortune. Each individual is vastly different from the others, but all have in common two traits: a desire to take advantage of the anonymity and opportunity that Shanghai provides in order to reinvent themselves, and their association with Walter Chao, the title character, whose enigmatic relationship with each one simultaneously enables their worldly ambitions while unpeeling those materialistic dreams to reveal deeper, more fundamental human needs.
Each character is fully drawn and compelling. We meet Gary, an American Idol type pop singer, whose fame and trajectory is disrupted by his own misbehavior, Phoebe, a provincial young girl whose goal is to marry a wealthy cosmopolitan man, Yinghui, a former scholar and activist who is now intent on building a business empire and Justin, whose wealthy family sends him to Shanghai to expand their influence and real estate holdings in Mainland China. Finally, the reader meets Walter, the Five Star Billionaire, a businessman/philanthropist, whose aims are clouded in mystery.
The book is divided into chapters that rotate among the stories of each character as each one becomes more fully fleshed out. Interspersed with these chapters are the chapters about Walter. These are the only chapters in the first person and they recount his story chronologically. The Walter chapters are also in a different font to underscore, I believe, that his is the thread that weaves the fabric of the book together. Indeed, all the main characters are connected to each other to some degree and we gradually begin to suspect that Walter is the puppet master of these characters. Why he becomes involved in their lives is unclear and we do not know until the end of the novel if his involvement is coincidental, benign or malignant.
The backdrop of their stories is Shanghai, which practically serves as a sixth character. The author brings this frenetic city to life as it too is reinventing itself. There is a running theme of destroying old buildings to construct modern, functional and soulless ones that mirrors the journeys of the protagonists. These contrasting images of old and new Shanghai are vibrant and Aw’s descriptions of the people, buildings, streets, sights, sounds and smells that define the city animates the story.
Aw’s book is well written, the story itself is compelling. I found the beginning slow-going, but as the narratives of these characters began to take life and Aw brings those narratives together, the story gains a momentum that makes for great reading.

Nice review of Five Star Billionaire, Peg!

Thanks Darryl!

You Deserve Nothing
by:Alexander Maksik

This first novel, by Alexander Maksik, received some notoriety when it recently came out that it may be a thinly veiled memoir.
It is a take on a story we have all seen and read – Will Silver is an expat who teaches at an international school in Paris and has developed a reputation as an inspirational and beloved high school teacher who captures his students' imagination and sparks their love of learning. He is an almost cult figure among the students who adore him for both his cool persona and his ideals. The students witness first hand that his own life doesn’t live up to the ideals he espouses in a number of ways, the most egregious of which is his sexual involvement with a student.
The story is told from both Will’s perspective as well that of several of the students. While it is well written and might be an interesting piece of fiction, I think that if it is biographical, there is a decided "ick" factor to this book. This is particularly the case since the author excuses his actions with the female student with whom he is involved by having her justify and defend their relationship. Ew.

Hi Peg! Happy Mother's Day! I hope you're doing something fun and exciting.

Wonderful reviews of The Bluest Eye (perhaps it's time for a reread), Behind the Beautiful Forevers (which I will put on my wishlist), Five Star Billionaire, and You Deserve Nothing (which I will probably avoid.)

And congrats on your first Early Reviewers book! I have mostly (with one or two exceptions) bad luck with them, so I'm currently taking a break from requesting any new ones. I actually have two or three to review yet.

Hey Kerri,

Thanks for visiting! I was lucky and the Early Reviewer book was terrific, but the pressure (granted, self-inflicted) to read and review was huge! I did win another book, but haven't received it yet. This month, I didn't even look at the list. I'm a slow learner...

My week-end was lovely. Went to the last opera of the season to see one of my all-time favorite productions - Dialogues of the Carmélites. I've seen it so often that at this point I cry in anticipation of the final scene. I always come prepared with enough tissues to pass around - so many of us are sobbing by the end!

Congrats on reviewing your first ER book. I remember how thrilled I was the first time I received one. I was telling anybody who'd listen that I couldn't believe I was getting a free book, just for reading it and offering my opinion.

All these books later, I still get a thrill reading the note that I "won" another book.

Congrats on the ER book and on a really helpful review! Thumb!
I think I'm not going to ask for another book, but then the list comes out and I just can't help myself.
Even with RL, you're doing a lot of good reading, it seems to me.

Hello all and thank you for visiting!

Linda: Thank you so much. I WAS thrilled. Outside of LT, I don't really win any contests (of course, it's probably because I don't enter any :).

Hey Peggy: Thanks for the thumb. I'm having a marvelous time looking through your thread this month. Some really extraordinary photos.

The Toughest Show on Earth
by: Joseph Volpe

Sadly, there wasn't much time for reading recently - real life schedules have been kind of crazy. But, I'm hoping to get back to a saner schedule now. In the meantime, here is the review for the one book I actually did get to read.

Joseph Volpe’s improbable rise from apprentice carpenter to General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera is documented in his memoir The Toughest Show on Earth. His rough and tumble personality often created friction between him and some of the Met management’s “bluebloods” who saw him as too unrefined to lead. He writes about this friction with a mix of pride and resentment.
The book is wildly self-serving and is Volpe’s opportunity to publicly settle more than a few scores. At times too, Volpe is somewhat self-aggrandizing, often scornful and occasionally just plain mean, but this book delivers what others only promise – lots of juicy insider dish. What also comes through is his dogged protectiveness and love for the Met.
Volpe pulls no punches and writes both lovingly and with rancor about some of the Met’s personalities. He is surprisingly brutal in his descriptions of various individuals in the Met’s management - with two major exceptions. He describes how Rudolf Bing who is Volpe's polar opposite in every way, mentored him. He also writes how Bruce Crawford, the Met’s Board President brilliantly and skillfully stewarded the Met back from near bankruptcy.
Though he's not one to dwell, he does discuss several regrets. His soured relationship with John Dexter, the director of numerous acclaimed productions in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s and his famous firing of the notoriously difficult soprano Kathleen Battle are both described and justified. He does seem a bit wistful that both relationships could not be salvaged.
He has soaring praise and respect for James Levine and he writes lovingly and protectively of Luciano Pavarotti. Pavarotti evidently could even charm Volpe, a man who seems immune to that brand of outsized charisma in other divas.
For all his bluster, the book illustrates Volpe’s fierce protectiveness and love for the institution. Toward the end, he writes:

"It’s a company in the true sense-a collective of singers, musicians, dancers, directors, designers, and backstage and front-of-the-house people of many callings. The all work at the Met because making opera is a job for the human spirit."

Ah, nice to see you posting again. As soon as my life quiets down, maybe we can round up a few NYers and meet for brunch.

Would love that Judy!

Another fine review, Peg! Glad to see you back and posting.

The book about the Met Opera sounds terrific. I'll have to look for that one.

Even though I've been to Chicago's Lyric Opera many, many times, I've been to the Met only once, in 2002, to attend Carmen.

Kathleen Battle was indeed quite a prima donna...and quite talented.

She shines in Exsultate, jubilate by Mozart

Just came by to say hello

Hi Peg! I hope you're doing well. I see it's been a while since you've posted. I hadn't been around much either, prior to the conference in late June.

Anyway, The Toughest Show on Earth sounds rather fascinating. I'm a bit of an opera enthusiast myself, actually, so I may check it out. Sadly, I've never been to the Met.

Yoohoo! Peg???