HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: boebert@sctc.com (Earl Boebert)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: The art of the blurb
Date: 13 Sep 92 23:13:20 GMT
Organization: SCTC

The following letter, quoted without permission, appeared in the
latest issue of the _New York Review of Books_:


"To the Editors"

In a Grove Press ad for two newly translated books by the Romanian
writer Norman Manea (NYR, August 13) I am quoted as saying
"Astonishing ... [Manea] is the ideal writer to have been pitted
against the most vicious dictatorship of the last 40 years.

I, in fact, said just the opposite in a brief profile of Manea that
appeared in the _New York Times Book Review_ (June 21, 1992).  After
describing Manea in my first sentence as 'mild, reserved, anxious, at
times a bit timid,' I went on to write, 'He does not strike even
himself, I believe, as the ideal writer to have been pitted against
perhaps the most vicious dictatorship of the last forty years.'

For Grove to falsify the meaning of a quotation like this is not only
irresponsible but, given the point I was making from the beginning of
the piece to the end, utterly ridiculous.

Philip Roth
Cornwall Bridge
Connecticut"

The NYR gave the letter the headline 'Astonishing'

Earl
From: wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Will Martin)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: E. L. Doctorow
Date: 15 Sep 92 19:31:59 GMT

I've read a couple E. L. Doctorow books; RAGTIME some years ago, and
WORLD'S FAIR just finished. I liked both of those, and am considering
reading more by him. I was wondering if anyone in the group had any comments
or recommendations as to what other books by him would appeal to someone
who liked those two.

I'm thinking about trying LOON LAKE next. Anyone out there have anything
to say about this book?

I began to find it interesting, and somewhat irritating, that nothing ever
said what "E. L." stood for.  Neither the back-of-book "notes about the
author" nor the copyright pages expanded those initials. The local
library's on-line catalog always just referred to "E. L." I just went to
the main library and looked at all the copies of his books on the open
shelves, as I recall that, in the old days, librarians always pencilled
in the real names of pseudonymous authors and the expansion of initials --
nothing there. I finally found a book of criticism and comments [Tokarczyk, 
Michelle M., E. L. DOCTOROW: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY, Garland, 1988]
and every reference in it, *except one*, just said "E. L." That one
reference was in the biographical summary, the first entry, where it said
"1931: Edgar Lawrence Doctorow was born ..."! :-) Whew!

By the way, based on the skimpy info from that section, I'm beginning to
believe that WORLD'S FAIR is fairly straightforward autobiography; the
main character in there is also "Edgar", if I remember right (and the child's
name is not immediately apparent but only inferrable from comments later on
in the book), was born in 1931, and grew up in the same environment, and
the mother's name was also "Rose". WORLD'S FAIR was an enjoyable read,
but it didn't have an ending. It just stopped. But it suited my mood at
the time I read it, as I was looking for a contrast to the horror and
modern stuff I had just been reading.

Regards, Will
wmartin@st-louis-emh2.army.mil OR wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil
From: jov@hpspdla.spd.HP.COM (Jim Vadeboncoeur)
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 23:47:40 GMT
Subject: Re: Akbar del Piombo
Organization: HP Stanford Park - Palo Alto, CA
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books

 I don't know a thing about him as an author, but I do own copies of the 
three books you mention and enjoy them immensely.

I'm not sure that the creative collages are by him (I haven't looked at 
them for some time), but I'll try to bring the books to work on Tuesday and
fill in whatever details I can find.

I might even have spare copies of some of them for sale.  I run an out-of-print
mail order book service in my "spare" time and seem to recall that a couple of 
his books came in with a large lot that I'm currently sorting through.  I'll
try to find out for sure by Tuesday, as well.

Anyone else looking for out-of-print illustrated books might give me a call
at 415-493-1191 on weekends or after 5:30 PM California time.  I run Bud Plant
Illustrated Books and we deal in everything from Dore and Parrish and Abbey to 
Kaluta and Frazetta and Hal Foster.

Catalogs are $2 from:

          Bud Plant Illustrated Books
          c/o Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr.
          3809-N Laguna Ave.
          Palo Alto, CA 94306
From: mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: I give up...
Date: 6 Sep 92 21:48:32 GMT


In rec.arts.poems, jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy) writes (in
a thread which began in r.a.b):
 
> Also, "Get it while you can" isn't the best of Janis Joplin either.
 
At the risk of being called a bully, I'd like to once again agree with
Professor McCarthy.
 
Mark
 
 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: Re: Wonderful Life
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 20:49:02 GMT

Marko Amnell writes:

	I'll probably regret this--and feel free to flame me... but I 
	have it from a reliable source that Gould is also a womanizer and 
	opportunist.  I don't think very highly of his work.  There, I've 
	said what I think of the man.  So hate me.

Since 85% of the male population and 15% of the female population are also
womanizers, what's the Big Deal? I would also hope that 100% of both
population subgroups are also opportunistic -- its a human trait. Hate
you? My dear Boy, what gave you that idea? I do have a suggestion, tho'.
Have you thought about changeing your name, Amnell, to Tarant? We have a
Mark Taranto, and it would be fun to also have a Marko Tarant.


							Fido
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: loosemore-sandra@CS.YALE.EDU (Sandra Loosemore)
Subject: Re: books to avoid
Organization: staff hacker @ Yale Haskell project
	<1992Sep7.013810.13862@micor.ocunix.on.ca> <-cqnma+.tmaddox@netcom.com>
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 08:21:28 GMT

tmaddox@netcom.com (Tom Maddox) writes:

	   Actually, I have trouble believing that any of the distinguished
   r.a.b.ble are foolish enough to judge books by their covers.  Do remember
   that writers have *no* say 99.n% of the time about what does and doesn't go
   on the cover--whether idiotic words or phrases or pink & heaving bosoms.

Well, if a book is recommended to me in other ways, then I usually
*don't* care what's on the cover.  For example, I have paperback
editions of some of the Poldark novels that I mentioned in another
post that have cover blurbs like "THE POLDARK SAGA!  In love's darkest
hour their defiant passion unleashes a storm of hatred, injustice, and
the threat of death!"  which ordinarily would have me retching (I'm
the person who said that "saga" was an instant turn-off) if I didn't
already know that these are such good books.

On the other hand, if I'm just browsing at books I have no other
information about, I have to apply *some* filtering algorithm to
determine which ones to take home with me.  (So many books!  So little
time!)  The art and blurbs appearing on the covers usually follow
certain genre conventions just as the text on the inside.

-Sandra
From: egpv29@castle.ed.ac.uk (JHenderson)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: A Reply to Professor McCarthy's query on films
Date: 14 Sep 92 15:39:31 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

In article <191ebeINN5il@uniwa.uwa.edu.au> wojdylo@maths.uwa.oz.au (INFIDEL) writes:
=>
=>
=>John McCarthy writes:
=>
=>>Characters in movies don't waste time reading books or newspapers or
=>>watching TV.  Lacks cinematic values, I believe they'd say.
=>
=>A few counterexamples from the (non-empty) set of "recent top-rate films":
=>
=>1)  Wim Wender's first film, "Wrong Turn": the central character is a
=>writer; he reads a book at the start and elsewhere. The film is based on
=>Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship".
=>
=>2) Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Decalog - part 3" has, as a central
=>character, a bookish girl who gets herself into trouble when trying to
=>escape from her parents' influence.
=>
=>3) Most of the characters in Andrei Tarkovsky's films are book readers
=>even though they might not be seen to read a book "during the film".

My nomination for 4) Prospero's Books!!

-- 
=======Jeremy Henderson========egpv29@castle.ed.ac.uk===============
Q: How many user support people does it take to change a light bulb?
A: We have an exact copy of the light bulb here and it seems to be
   working fine.  Can you tell me what kind of system you have?
From: ckt4x@faraday.clas.Virginia.EDU (Curt Tsui)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Looking for two books
Date: 13 Sep 92 04:25:19 GMT
Organization: University of Virginia

There are two books I'm looking for that seem to be out of
print and, as a result I have been unlucky in obtaining them
through special ordering (nor have I been lucky enough to find
them in used book stores).  The two books are

The Shape of Rage: The Films of David Cronenberg (don't know the
   author's name)

Green Eyes by Lucius Sheperd


If anyone has or has access to either or both of these books
and can sell it/them to me, then *please* do so.  I'd really
like to own them.

If there is a marketplace newsgroup for books, I apologize for
posting here.  I didn't see it in the sub menu.
--
                               - Curt Tsui -
      			     curt@Virginia.EDU
   "Happiness might very well be a glandular condition." - David Cronenberg 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,rec.arts.poems
From: dwp@cci632.cci.com (Dana Paxson)
Subject: Re: Poetry Suggestion
Followup-To: rec.arts.books
Summary: Dylan Thomas
Keywords:  inspiration, humanity
Organization: [Computer Consoles, Inc., Rochester, NY
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 16:59:47 GMT

In article <1992Sep5.213326.26631@hellgate.utah.edu> tolman%asylum.cs.utah.edu@cs.utah.edu (Kenneth Tolman) writes:
>>|> I will soon read a poem to my Toastmasters club (a club for people
>>|> interested in improving public speaking skills).   I am looking for a
>>|> particular sort of poem to read--I want an inspirational poem, a rousing
>>|> tribute to the power and spirit of the human race.  I want a poem that
>>|> brings a lump to your throat and makes you proud to be a human being.  I am
>>|> particularly interested in something that celebrates the the noble or
>>|> courageous individual.  I also need it to be from a reasonably well known
>>|> poet, one that I would be able to find in a public or college library.
>>|> 
>>
>
>Get that poem "Rage against the dying of the light", by,.... I forget.
>It is advice to a person, telling them not to give in to old age, it is
>cool and I love it.

Yes.  This is _Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night_, by Dylan Thomas.  It
is in his _Collected Poems_, and other collections besides.

Dana

Dana Paxson
Network Applications Systems Group
Northern Telecom
97 Humboldt Street
Rochester, New York  14609

dwp@cci.com

Disclaimer:  The opinions expressed above are mine personally,
	     and do not necessarily reflect the views of my 
	     employer.




Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: le01167@portal.lasc.lockheed.com (Ron Nadel (x2025))
Subject: Re: Wonderful Life (Was : Re: Progress (Was : Re: The Literary Canon))
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Co. - Rye Canyon
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 92 21:17:36 GMT

In article <1992Sep9.180120.7388@sophia.smith.edu>, orourke@sophia.smith.edu (Joseph O'Rourke) writes...

>with "Wonderful Life," but I heard that since publication, it
>has been discovered that the odd Burgess Shale creatures were
>not as odd as Gould thought, significantly undercutting his
>thesis that rerunning the tape of life could result in entirely 
>different creatures.  Apparently one of the BS weirdos
>was reconstructed upside down, and another has been found to
>fit into a known class.

I recall that the weirdest of all, and one that fit in the least, 
hallucigenia, had been predicted by Gould in his book to be a part
of some other creature, not an organism unto itself, thereby reducing
some of the variety.  But I think the conclusions about the other 
organisms and their impacts on taxonomy have changed little.

Ron
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy)
Subject: Re: The White Man's Burden of Proof
Reply-To: jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Date: 4 Sep 92 16:26:33

In article <9209041432.AA23011@cfdev1.shearson.com> mtaranto@shearson.com (Mark Taranto) writes:

   jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy), who is a master at quoting out
   of context, writes:

   > Mark Taranto posts:
   >
   >        The ONLY people I have ever heard complain about racism
   >      towards whites (other than Clayton) are white supremicists.
   >
   > Mark hasn't been paying much attention unless he claims magical
   > means of identifying white supremacists.  Almost all of the people
   > who complained about the singer who said it was time for a week
   > of killing whites called it racist.

   I'm sure that they did.  But were they using the same catch phrases that
   are used by the KKK and various white supremecist groups?  I doubt it.

   This was my point.  Nearly everyone will agree that there are individual
   acts of racism towards whites.  My point about why people make assumptions
   about Clayton Cramer was HOW he talks about it, not THAT he talks about
   it.

   Many of these catch phrases are designed to sound reasonable or innocuous
   until it is discovered what is really meant by them.  I'd like to believe
   that Cramer is using a standard definition of these words, as opposed to
   stating them with insidious intent.  But the fact remains that if he
   continues to use the same language as these fringe groups, people will
   assume that he is sympathetic to their views.  It is a shame, but it
   is a reality.

   Mark

Sorry my previous quote was considered out of context.  I think it
is Taranto who is obliged to avoid reading into Cramer's or anyone
else's words meanings different from what he says.  To hell with
this "insidious intent".  Once that becomes an accepted consideration,
the way is open to every kind of bullying.  Mark Taranto can't bully
Cramer and he can't bully me, but there are probably people who will
be shy of posting what they want to say for fear Taranto will find
an insidious intent.

--
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
*
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.

Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin)
Subject: Re: Donna Tartt
Originator: mnemonic@eff.org
Keywords: Any comments?
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 01:43:46 GMT

In article <1992Sep9.160702.8864@infonode.ingr.com> james@brock.b17b.ingr.com (James Brock) writes:
>Any reports on this new book by Donna Tartt? She was a friend of that
>literary giant Bret Easton-Ellis (at Bennington) and was given an advance
>of $500,000 for her novel (the title has left my mind). 
>
>Anyone read it?

I'm reading THE SECRET HISTORY now, and I'm finding it amusing.


--Mike




-- 
Mike Godwin,    |"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact 
mnemonic@eff.org| of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, 
(617) 864-0665  | both are transformed."
EFF, Cambridge  |                           --Carl Jung 
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: entpph@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
Subject: Re: The Literary Canon
Reply-To: entpph@ritvax.isc.rit.edu
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 00:43:18 GMT

Caucasian  adj.  1. Anthropology.  Of, relating to, or being
a major human racial division traditionally distinguished by
physical characteristics such as very light to brown skin
pigmentation and straight to wavy or curly hair, and including
peoples indigenous to Europe, northern Africa, western Asia
and India.  NO LONGER IN SCIENTIFIC USE.  (Emphasis added)

From the 3rd edition American Heritage Dictionary p 304.

Erik Timmerman
From: roger@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (roger.s.tait..jr)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Bookstores in Various Cities List (rec.arts.books)
Date: 8 Sep 92 18:38:55 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T

In article <88113@netnews.upenn.edu>, weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener) writes:
(referring to West Chester, PA)
> While in the area, look for Baldwin's Book Barn, a converted barn.  It is
> possibly the largest used bookstore in the Philadelphia area, and it is
> glorious.  

Does anyone know if the Book Barn still puts on the "Dutch Book Sale"?
It used to happen twice a year. Baldwin's would rent an old vegetable stand
on Rt. 202 and bring out truckloads of books from their main store.
The first day of the sale, every book would go for $3.00 (okay, this was a
few years ago). As the days progressed, the price would drop to $2, $1, 50
cents and 25 cents. I think the vegetable stand has been replaced by a
gas station/convenience store or a strip mall, but has Baldwin's found
another location?

Roger Tait
An alumnus of the West Chester Daily Local News.
TRIVIA QUIZ: Name another person who used to write for the same newspaper.
-- 
-----------------
Roger Tait
att!hoqax!roger
AT&T Bell Labs Publications Center      Holmdel, NJ
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: wismith@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (William R. Smith)
Subject: Re: books to avoid
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 22:24:02 GMT

Fiona Webster writes:
	
	Ooh, how so?  Do tell.  Wikiwiki!  Before he comes back, we should
				^^^^^^^^
	gossip...




Seems to me the Hawaiian word for "quick" is an oxymoron.



William Sburgfort Smith
Intel, SSD
From: jeff@aiai.ed.ac.uk (Jeff Dalton)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Patrick O'Brien vs Horatio Hornblower...
Date: 9 Sep 92 18:39:26 GMT
Organization: AIAI, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

In article <1992Sep04.205140.8603@brtph560.bnr.ca> Paul Schroeder writes:

   I stand by the statements I made.  Is O'Brian difficult to read?
   Not compared to James Joyce, William Golding (beyond _Lord of the
   Flies_), or Joseph Conrad, among others.  But compared to writers
   like Forester or even Graham Greene, I think so.  Does being
   "difficult to read" correlate to literary merit?  By no means.
   What does "difficult to read" mean?  Elevated vocabulary, elaborate
   sentence structure, complicated plots, complex philosophy, or just
   being boring?  Maybe "difficult to read" means a book you don't
   want to take to the beach.  Whatever, O'Brian's books require more
   of the reader than Forester's, they are richer in character and
   thought, and he is worthy of literary merit IMHO.

Well, I guess I stand by what I said too.

I'd take O'Brian to the beach, read him on the bus, etc.  I did read
him on planes and in airports.  I found the books pleasant and easy to
read, and I often read them instead of some harder reading that was
there as an alternative.  Indeed, I read all of the Aurbrey/Maturin
novels over a fairly short period, and I don't think I could have done
that if they were difficult to read.  I don't think this shows I must
be a better reader than the rest of rec.arts.books either.

However, I don't mean this to imply that these novels are in any
way unworthy of literary merit.

-- jd
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: fi@grebyn.com (Fiona Webster)
Subject: hectored by Hector
Organization: Grebyn Timesharing
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 18:03:43 GMT

The strangest thing happened to me: the other night I saw a
horrifying news account of a woman who was killed during a "car-
jacking"--dragged to her death by her seatbelt!--then just last
night, I had a dream in which a criminal named Hector was chasing
me.  All morning I've been walking around thinking, "Hector, Hector,
who's Hector?"  (My knowledge of the Greeks is rather faded.)

Just now, I got it.  I was thinking idly about the dream, and suddenly
I was replaying in my head a film version of "Troilus and Cressida," in
which the camera shows a dray horse running toward us, with Hector's
body bouncing behind on the dirt.  And then I thought of the woman
dragged behind her car.

If you had asked me yesterday, "Name a horror scene in 'Troilus and
Cressida'" or "Who did Achilles avenge himself against?", I would
have said, "Uhh, sorry."  But my subconscious knew the answers to
both of those questions.  Weird.

Does this ever happen to any of y'all?

						--Fiona Webster
From: spb0457@zeus.tamu.edu (SubGenius)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: ... on Miss Manners (cough)
Date: 11 Sep 1992 19:01:00 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

klier@iscsvax.uni.edu writes...

[deletia]

>I have to confess, though, that with the exceptions of trying to answer
>all invitations properly, write thank you notes, and similar basic kindnesses, 
>my grasp of etiquette has slipped to the point that "good manners" means
>you don't pick ticks at the table -- instead you excuse yourself and go
>elsewhere.  Or maybe I've just been hanging around with too many field
>biologists.  ;-)
>Kay Klier  Biology Dept  UNI

+-------------------------------------SubG------------------------------------+
Hm.

Always make sure your date is done with her beer before using it as an ashtray.


Apart from that, the rules of etiquette elude me completely.









-SubG
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books
From: rsquires@cyclops.eece.unm.edu (Roger Squires)
Subject: Re: Books on Disc
Date: Fri, 04 Sep 92 21:29:48 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

In article <qwmnr3#.dani@netcom.com> dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) writes:
>
>....  But for reading?  Can you
>imagine having to read these books from a computer monitor?
>

	I've read all 60-odd Holmes stories on my little green
	screen here, and the experience was not at all unpleasant.
	A good chair, a good monitor with large type, and I found my reading
	speed increased over printed versions, with no eye strain.

	Admittedly, Doyle is pretty lite stuff, with no footnotes,
	xrefs, etc.  Right now, although I know Shakespeare, for
	instance, is available as an etext, as well as a glossary
	of outdated words, I shrink from reading him in this format
	since I feel some hypertext software is needed to smooth
	the reader's task in looking up hard phrases/words.

	But I am by no means convinced that there is anything inherently
	bad about reading a monitor.  If there existed a good quality
	laptop with large type, good software, and books available
	on say, multi-media micro-cds, I think such a system could be
	superior to today's books.

>Dani Zweig

Roger Squires
rsquires@cyclops.eece.unm.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,rec.humor,alt.folklore.urban,rec.arts.sf.misc
From: mauax@warwick.ac.uk (Brazil)
Subject: Re: Agnostics and Athiests
Organization: Computing Services, Warwick University, UK
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 00:20:28 GMT

In article <92246.162407HCM100@psuvm.psu.edu> <HCM100@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>IF THIS DOESN'T STOP, IM GOING TO START THE WORST CASCADE EVER.
>>>>>>>>>>>>WHILE EATING THIS SLOP, I SEWED THE FIRST BROCADE BEAVER.
>>>>>>>>>>>BILE FITTING RIG STOP, LIE SPEWED THIRST LIVER !!!!
>>>>>>>>>>IF YOU MUST CONTRIBUTE, AT LEAST DELIVER...
>>>>>>>>>WHO MAY I ATTRIBUTE TO THIS BEASTLY SLIVER?
>>>>>>>>TO SPAY A LUTE IN A GREASY RIVER
>>>>>>>DAMN CASCADERS THINK YOU'RE SO CLEVER
>>>>>>I WILL NOT CASCADE; NOPE, NO, NEVER
>>>>>WOULD YOU, COULD YOU, ON A TRAIN?
>>>>WOULD YOU, COULD YOU, IN THE RAIN?
>>>R2-D2 ON THE BRAIN?
>>This cascade is damn insane!
>And it's really getting lame!
This lower case is going against the grain!