October 22, 2006
Imperium
For those of you who have spent a lazy and fun Sunday afternoon reading Robert Harris's suprisingly effective period mystery thriller (set on the eve of the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius), Pompeii, I bring your attention to his latest: Imperium, which follows a critical moment (from 79 to 64BC) in the life of Cicero. I will certainly be ordering it.
Posted by dag at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)
May 3, 2006
Meditations on Carnage
In case you are wondering about my reading list these days, right now I am diving into Gregory Hays's (relatively) new translation of Marcus Aurelius's Meditations as well as Victor Davis Hanson's Carnage and Culture. On the viewing side of things, I also recently ordered the new DVD release of the Albert Brooks classic Modern Romance.
Posted by dag at 9:23 PM | Comments (0)
April 27, 2006
A Literary Star is Born
Finally, what the literary world really needed: a book about sex written by a prostitute.
Well, why not? Toni Bentley's The Surrender, a celebration of anal sex, made it onto the NY Times notable books of 2004 list.
Now, look, I am as in favor of prostitution, anal sex and generalized debauchery as the next guy (indeed, I fancy myself something of a scholar of porn), but why are these books getting so much critical attention? What are they adding to the Western canon????
Oh, and by the way, the issue for me is not the idea of women sexually empowered through writing or otherwise. I've gotten over that hump (excuse the pun). For instance, I grew up Catholic and had all the usual fantasies about nuns. They're all a bunch of dominatrixs,* and the more iron their fist the more the turn-on for some 12 year old kid.
*Ok, if you're so damned smart then tell me: what is the plural of dominatrix?
Posted by dag at 3:39 PM | Comments (1)
April 4, 2006
The next wave of books
Tonight I ordered The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground and Ripley's Game, so it looks like Ripley will loom large on my mind in coming weeks. Look for cultured savagery in this space.
While I was at it I ordered Peter Wispelwey's "Beethoven: Complete Sonatas & Variations". Next stop: Grass Collective, for some DVDs to play on our big Samsung HD LCD. I have always been bothered by the idea that, during dinner parties, such a potentially spectacular canvas looks like...well, a TV turned off.
Posted by dag at 9:39 PM | Comments (1)
March 29, 2006
The Disgracefully Aging Review of Books
In the next couple of weeks, I plan to tackle Rome, Inc. and The White Man's Burden. Reviews of my own will be forthcoming...in the unlikely event that I get the energy to write them.
Posted by dag at 1:20 PM | Comments (0)
November 2, 2005
The Growing Reading List
In the 5 to 7 days before Christmas, I plan a slow and purposeful courtship with my soon-to-arrive Manhattan chair and matching ottoman from Pottery Barn. I'm lining up the beverage choices (one of those days I plan to try Gravner's old Roman-style "Breg") and reading list. Here is what I want to tackle in those painfully short days of complete withdrawal from the everyday rat race:
E.L. Doctorow's The March: a novel set against the backdrop of Sherman's savage burn through the South.
Charles Mann's 1491: a story of the legends, lies and cherished myths regarding the New World that European explorers stumbled upon.
Thoma Asbridge's The First Crusade: a history of, well, the first crusade. Though I fancy myself something of a history buff, my knowledge of the crusades is embarassingly limited.
Zadie Smith's On Beauty: A novel about sense, non-sense and downright silliness in the culture wars among and between the members of two academic families.
John Sugden's Nelson: A Dream of Glory, 1758-1797: A biography of England's greatest naval hero.
Victor David Hanson's A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War : a whirlwind history of the West's very first "World War".
I know, I know: there is no possibility that life will seriously allow me the peace and quiet required to finish all of these in the allotted time.
But for now allow me the bliss of my delusions.
Posted by dag at 9:16 PM
October 27, 2005
New Blog
After a great deal of careful thinking, I have decided to bring back Aging Disgracefully.
I needed a hiatus, and have decided that Aging Disgracefully needs a new focus. Out with the current events, politics and economics: I want a refuge from all of that. I think I will now focus more on the whole lifetsyle of a disgracefully aging gentleman. Initially, the last incarnation of Aging Disgraceully had achieved some balance between its various focus areas, but somehow I drifted away from that as time passed. Therefore, I want to re-focus more specifically on the key elements that make my daily life work (and not work). As part of this, I have added a new section (My Growing-and Alarming-Attraction to Pottery Barn) to document the ongoing saga that has been our new home, including my frightening forays into my metrosexual side as I make decisions about things like interior decoration (not that there's anything wrong with that). In the next few weeks my new posts will be mingled with old ones that seemed particularly relevant to the new focus.
Though this is just the latest incarnation of Aging Disgracefully, it still it feels like a new beginning. Once again, I'm moved to quote verse:
How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
Labour and rest, that equal periods keep;
"Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep;"
Desires compos'd, affections ever ev'n,
Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to Heav'n.
Grace shines around her with serenest beams,
And whisp'ring angels prompt her golden dreams.
For her th' unfading rose of Eden blooms,
And wings of seraphs shed divine perfumes,
For her the Spouse prepares the bridal ring,
For her white virgins hymeneals sing,
To sounds of heav'nly harps she dies away,
And melts in visions of eternal day.
-Alexander Pope
Posted by dag at 8:05 PM