Jazz At Ann Arbor (Live) - Chet Baker Quartet (The)

Advantages: beautifully written, has staying power
Disadvantages: grim, not much happens, unlikeable narrator

...Summary: beautifully written internal-monologue tale of bodily anguish It's not difficult to see why Anne Enright's "The Gathering" has been short-listed (and eventually, selected) for that ultimate literary fiction accolade, the Man Booker prize. If our (or the jurors') idea of the the peaks of literary novel is, almost unavoidably, defined by the Great Moderns, if it's all of Joyce, Woolf and Lawrence; Proust and Kafka; then "The Gathering" had to be recognised because it's steeped in that tradition. Veronica Hegarty, one of the twelve Hegarty siblings is bringing her brother Liam home to bury. He walked to his death in the Brighton sea, his brain muddled by drink, his pockets filled with stones. The gathering of the title refers to the family coming to the funeral in Dublin, but most of the book consists of Veronica... Read review

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Advantages: Driven by musical passion. Great Jazz structures (+ lack of)
Disadvantages: All tracks are very similar (no variation)

...A must have for all JTQ fans. This album incorporates acid jazz with the classic James Taylor quartet sound. Opening with Joe's Diversions, the hammond organ sound takes lead throughout the album. Vocals from new singer Yvonne Yanney bring new light to the quartet - the most prominent track being 'It's all over'. For all jazz, and especially acid jazz fans, this album provides complex melodies and harmonies, whilst capturing the unusally simple structures of acid. The album is well produced, and the selection of tracks (11 in total) are well chosen. I would recommend this album to all fans of JTQ and jazz, and to those who are willing to try something new in their musical tastes. Truly a great album, full of musical passion.... Read review

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Advantages: A fun way to learn or re-learn Latin
Disadvantages: The story is a bit of a puzzle

...Shel Silverstein's 'The Giving Tree' has become a classic parable of modern times. Like good parables, it has a multivalent quality toward interpretation. Some people love it, and some people hate it. The story is simple, as is the vocabulary and grammar. There is a tree, who loved a boy, and gave the boy whatever he needed that was within her power to give. When the boy was hungry, she gave apples. When the boy was tired, she gave shade. When the boy, now grown, needed a home, she gave lumber. Over the course of the story, the tree gets reduced to a stump from having given and given (give 'till it hurts?). The boy, typical of humans, is never-ending request of needs. The tree, typical of nature, perhaps typical of parents, perhaps typical of God (one never knows if Silverstein had an intended metaphor here), gives and gives... Read review

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