Better Than Friday - 133 (Patreon)

Hello everyone, hope you're having a nice evening. 

1. Coming Soon - Woodcutters by Thomas BernhardHaven't read him since 'The Loser' - Very overdue. 

-----------------------------------Fiercely observed, often hilarious, and “reminiscent of Ibsen and Strindberg” (The New York Times Book Review), this exquisitely controversial novel was initially banned in its author’s homeland.A searing portrayal of Vienna’s bourgeoisie, it begins with the arrival of an unnamed writer at an ‘artistic dinner’ hosted by a composer and his society wife—a couple he once admired and has come to loathe. The guest of honor, a distinguished actor from the Burgtheater, is late. As the other guests wait impatiently, they are seen through the critical eye of the writer, who narrates a silent but frenzied tirade against these former friends, most of whom have been brought together by Joana, a woman they buried earlier that day. Reflections on Joana’s life and suicide are mixed with these denunciations until the famous actor arrives, bringing an explosive end to the evening that even the writer could not have seen coming.- Amazon

2. Bart Hughes: Dutch Librarian and advocate of Drilling Holes in your Head 

So Seneca kindly informed me of this outrageously bizarre character who not only drilled a hole in his own head with a dentist's drill (today I learned the word Trepanation), but also wrote an autobiography, of which the first edition was recently tracked down by @rarebooksleuth. 

My unintentional pun response to Seneca sharing this story was 

"Holy Hell". 

3. Marquee Moon

I love this song and have ever since I heard it about 16 or 17 years ago. 

Phenomenal band, phenomenal album.

4. 16 Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford 

Had this stuck in my head the other morning. What an ear worm. 

Apparently it was covered by Johnny Cash.

5. Benjamin Moser on translating Clarice Lispector

Interesting interview on how Moser came to translate Clarice Lispector. 

“I really believe that once people read these books, they’re not going to be able to not know how important she was.”The next review will be of Lispector's 'An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures'.