Bunch of Books Roundup

Okay, bastards. You think you had me down? You think I haven't been reading? Well... HERE'S a bunch of books that I've finished in the past few months:

"The Path of the Mother" - I love Ammachi. This book got a little fruity at times, but the shining love and radiance of the Holy Mother Ammachi shone through. :-)



"Born Standing Up" - Steve Martin is simply awesome. Totally inspirational book that proves that HARD WORK and being completely devoted to your craft can really take you places that no man hath gone before.



"Diaboliad" - My love for Mikhail Bulgakov already knew no bounds, and now, if there WERE any bounds that I did not know about, they too have been obliterated, and I love him even more boundlessly than before.



"Mary Holmes: Paintings and Ideas" - This woman is one cool character. Great life, beautiful art, and really cool ideas. Holmes was also a big influence of the balloon twister Addi Somekh, who self-published the book.

"Strange Interlude" - A totally awesomely weird play by Eugene O'Neill. Ahead of its time, it deals with all sorts of psychological tomfoolery and some taboo abortion stuff thrown in. Good times.



AND THERE'S MORE! I'll be finished with this MUSIC PUBLISHING book in a couple hours, and of course there is that classic book of sci-fi and humor THE BIBLE that I'm reading, and I know I'm forgetting some stuff from the past few months. Must consult the stacks next to my bed, and in the bathroom, and by the couch, and at my boyfriend's house.

Another update, coming soon!

The Fact and the Matter

The fact of the matter is.... I have been reading a ton. A TON!!! I just haven't been good about blogging it. And I got really busy. I mean, since I last wrote, I directed an Opera at CalArts, took a play I wrote (Dawn of Quixote: Chapter the First) and my band (The Evangenitals) to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, and have been touring extensively with the World's Premier Johnny Cash Tribute Band (Cash'd Out) singing the June Carter parts in their stage show all over America.

And STILL... I've been reading a ton of stuff! Cover to cover!!!

Here's a quick review of a few of the things that I have read lately:

In preparation for taking the play to Edinburgh, I re-read Unamuno's "Our Lord Don Quixote"... one of my all-time favorite books in the whole wide friggin' world.




I also read:

Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being
followed by Anna Karenina
followed by Rasputin: The Last Word
followed by Brewsie and Willie
followed by The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics

I'm currently reading David Markson's Wittgenstein's Mistress, which is awesome so far.

In other news... I'm learning to sight read bass clef, so that's kinda reading as well, no?



Just wanted to assure you all that I'm still trudging away over here...

Will be trying to check in more frequently.

Apologies & Amor,
Juli

Word of The Mouth

I love it when people recommend books and music to me. It opens up new worlds and associations that I may not stumble upon by my lonesome, and it also gives me insight into what other folks are into, which is fascinating. For example, I have discovered so much awesome music from folks who came to an Evangenitals show and then rattled off a list of bands that they feel our music in some way is akin to. That's how I found out about Freakwater, Fear, Silverjews, Lavender Diamond, and so much other good stuff.

So, now that I've started this blog, the book recommendations are starting to trickle in, which is SUPER exciting! (Not that I don't already have enough to read! Sheesh!) I am, however, a great believer in "god speaking through other people" and following the wild and winding river of whateversoever shows up in your path to guide you. "SAY YES TO LIFE!" That's my (occasional) motto. Along with "FOLLOW YOUR BLISS!" and "GIRD YOUR LOINS FOR THE RECKONING!" :-)

I will always be eternally grateful to photographer John Fitzpatrick for turning me on to Bulgakov's The Master and Margaritaand Heart of a Dog. Composer Jeremy Zuckerman for sending me Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Costume Designer Irina Kruzhilina for giving me Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Actor Michael Blackman for bestowing the curse of Kipling's The Light That Failedupon me.

And now, the ridiculously talented and awesome composer and musician Kubilay Uner has hipped me to the writings of Luciano De Crescenzo. I very much want to get down with his two books on classic Greek philosopher's, however, it's gonna be a little tricky to find them in English. If anyone has any leads, please let me know! :-)

Kubi also suggested that I read Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophysince I'm on the overview tip. I've been wanting to get down with Russell ever since reading about the love/hate relationship he had with Wittgenstein in the ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE Wittgenstein biography by Ray Monk Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius(given to me by jazz saxophonist Masahiro during my NYU days). Of course, after having such an amazing experience reading THAT biography, I really think I need to add Monk's biography of Bertrand Russell (in two parts: The Spirit of Solitude and The Ghost of Madness) to the list, too. :-)

Words, words, words... Lord, help me. :-)

The Plan: One Book, One Week

So, here's the idea:

I have a dissertation to write for my PhD in the Philosophy of Media and Communication at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland and in order to do this with any degree of thoroughness, there are a TON of books that I need to read to really get in deep and grapple with my topic. So, I'm going to read one book every week... for a year. At least.

And what, you might be wondering, is my topic? NOTHING. That's right... not "nothingness"... I'm talking about straight up unadulterated NOTHING. I'm sure I'll be explaining more about that as I get on with the reading, research, and writing.

Attempting to read at least one book a week, considering some of the heavy-duty works that I'm looking to dig in to (like Deleuze's A Thousand Plateaus, Sartre's Being and Nothingness, Jean Luc Nancy's Being Singular Plural, Badiou's Being and Event, Simone Weil's The Need for Roots, etc) is, I'm expecting, a formula for mild-to-severe insanity. That's kinda what I'm hoping for. Jamming all that exposition of ideas in my body and soul should break me... and that's exactly what I'm looking for: a breakthrough. A new thought. Nothing less. :-)

I've been warming up to this One Book/One Week pace already. In the past few weeks I've read Rollo May's The Courage to Create, Peter Brook's The Empty Space, and Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Okay, the Murakami book was more just for fun... and for some writer's inspiration. Clearly those books are more on the "light" and "skinny" side, especially when laid next to something like Kierkegaard's Either/Or or Nietzsche's The Will to Power. Obviously the big, bad bastards are gonna require that I pick a week when I don't have any Evangenitals or Cash'd Out shows and can really just give over to immobility, bed sores and voracious reading.

A VORACIOUS READER. It is something I have always wanted to be, and I'm really excited to have finally backed myself into a corner that gives me no other choice but to become that which I've always wanted to be.

Of course, there is ALWAYS a choice... :-)