The joy of reading…bad books

In the May 6 New York Times Book Review, Joe Queenan has an essay on the joys of reading bad books http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/books/review/Queenan.t.html?ref=books

“Bad books are an essential part of life,” he asserts.”Most of us are familiar with people who make a fetish out of quality: They read only good books, they see only good movies, they listen only to good music, they discuss politics only with good people, and they’re not shy about letting you know it. They think this makes them smarter and better than everybody else, but it doesn’t. It makes them mean and overly judgmental….”

“I would rather read ‘The Good, the Bad and the Undead’ by Kim Harrison [about vampire hunters] than one more novel about an enigmatic woman in a famous painting….”

However, he issues a caution: “As with bad movies, a book that is merely bad but not exquisitely bad is a waste of time, while a genuinely terrible book is a sheer delight.”

Queenan mentions several books that qualify as sheer delights, and offers guidelines for identifying others. This is a valuable resource to bear in mind when the MTPL Thursday Night Book group is drawing up its schedule.

–Charles

Artemisia – see the film Thursday 5/10 at 5:45 pm

If you’ve read the book, come to the library a little early to find out what went before Artemisia’s marriage and career – at least as seen by French director Agnes Merlot in the film Artemisia. (R, 1997) The book begins where the film ends, with the ecclesiastical trial of the painter Agostino Tassi for the rape of Artemisia Gentileschi – a historic trial with a transcript available in the Vatican. Read Ebert’s review here - http://tinyurl.com/p27ac

The book The Passion of Artemisia and the movie Artemisia have both been roundly criticized as historically inaccurate – read a little more about that controversy here: http://www.efn.org/%7Eacd/Artemisia.html

And for a version of the story more grounded in history, if less romantic, you could read Mary D. Garrard, Artemisia Gentileschi: The Image of the Female Hero in Italian Baroque Art (Princeton University Press, 1989). This book includes English translations of the artist’s letters and testimony of the trial.

Kathleen

Artemisia

This week we will discuss The Passion of Artemisia, by Susan Vreeland – the story of Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi, reputed to be the first woman to actually support herself through her artwork.

Several years ago the Metropolitan Museum had an exhibit of the work of Artemisia and her father, Orazio Gentileschi – the exhibit’s website is available here: http://tinyurl.com/2gzlgj

In addition to two of the Judith paintings, and Susanna and the Elders, you will find this painting, titled Self Portrait as a Lute Player” and painted in about 1616, when Artemisia would have been in her early twenties. http://www.metmuseum.org/special/Orazio_and_Artemisia/images/57.L.jpg

Kathleen

Brueghel: A Man for All Seasons

Pat sent me this great article about Brueghel before the discussion of Headlong, but I did not get a chance to copy it. If you are not completely off Brueghel by now, this is a good resource – if you click on “print” at the top of the page, you will get a “printer-friendly” version that is a little easier to read.http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942177,00.html

Kathleen

More about Susan Vreeland

Barnes and Noble has some information about Susan Vreeland, author of The Passion of Artemisia, plus an interview available as a podcast – pretty neat technology! Just click on “Susan Vreeland” above to get to the Barnes and Noble page with the interview.

Kathleen

Talking about Artemisia – Thursday, May 10

On May 10 at 7:30 pm the Thursday Evening Book Group will discuss the historical novel, The Passion of Artemisia, by Susan Vreeland. Read a review here: http://www.mostlyfiction.com/history/vreeland.htm

See the “prequel” before the discussion – at 5:45, we will be screening Artemisia, directed by Alice Merlot, starring Valentina Cervi – it is a visually stunning film about Artemisia Gentileschi in the years leading up to the trial – the novel is about her life after the trial. Be warned, though, that “Artemisia” includes scenes with nude artists’ models, both male and female, in a context appropriate to the film. Filmed in Italy, in French with subtitles. Read Ebert’s review here: http://tinyurl.com/p27ac

See The Kite Runner at the State Theater

From Ellie Strbo to the Thursday Evening Book Group

The State Theatre in New Brunswick will have The Kite Runner play on May 14th and 15th at 10:00 a.m. and again at 12:00 p.m. I called the State Theatre and they said the tickets were only $7.00. State Theatre group sales person Kate told me that she would prefer to deal with a group as opposed to individual sales. I’m not quite sure how you can do that but it most definitely is worth a try. I’m going on Monday, I believe. I thought some of the book club members might like to see this play.

Take care. Sincerely, Ellie Strbo

If anyone is interested in trying to go as a group, please get back to me, and I will see if I can do a little organizing – I’ll need a volunteer, though, to actually buy the tickets. Can’t do that from my library job.

Kathleen – email kligon@mtpl.org

An Interview and a portrait of Michael Frayn in Bomb Magazine

I always wonder what the author looks like – this is an interesting little interview. It is linked from the title – “An Interview and a portrait….”
Kathleen

There’s not much about Headlong – here’s what M. Frayn had to say:

mk Your latest novel, Headlong–I know how it began: You’re a frequent visitor to the Kunsthistorisches Museum–that wonderful museum in Vienna. You’d been in the Brueghel room many times, and one day you noticed a little sign saying that the paintings depicting the seasons were part of a series, and that one painting was missing.
mf That’s right.

mk How many years had you been carrying the idea before you actually started working on the novel?
mf Not a question of years, but days. Claire and I were in Vienna, we saw this sign, I immediately began to think about the novel and as soon as I came back to London I started to do the research and got completely obsessed.

mk Did the process of your research mirror the central character Martin Clay’s research?
mf Yes. Well, we were both doing rather the same thing. I was trying to find out whether there had been such a picture and what the subject would have been like had it existed. And Martin Clay was trying to prove a similar thing, that a picture he’d found was that missing picture.

Reading Group Guide – Headlong

Some questions to talk about at the discussion tomorrow – Kathleen

About the author – Headlong

Wikipedia on Michael Frayn

Kathleen