Images of Me

Me, Mira, Geri-Ann, Tina, Matthew

"Open that one," she said. While looking over my shoulder and spotting a folder labeled 'me.' Just a stash of photos from long ago, semi-recent, and middle not so long ago. "Those belong on your blog." So now, infrequently, I will share the past in pictures with you my friends.

This was and is Mira's home in San Francisco, circa 2010.

100 Best Novels

[original posting August 3, 2010]

I got a call from an old friend the other day. I mean an old, old friend; someone I had not spoken to in over 20 years. Strange what parts of that conversation became bloggable. She mentioned during a long rambling conversation that her daughter, about to be a senior in high school, was on her third summer of reading the 100 best novels of all time. Having read thru freshman, sophomore and junior summers, she now expected to reach her goal (all 100) by her first summer in grad school. A total of 100 books in ten summers, a laudable feat in my estimation.

Later that night I wondered how one finds the 100 Best Novels? I tried the internet and then sent off an email: "What list is your daughter using?"

The next day I got this response: "She is using the Modern Library list of best novels."

I give you the Modern Library's own bio.

The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. For decades, young Americans cut their intellectual teeth on Modern Library books. The series shaped their tastes, educated them, provided them with a window on the world. Many of the country's celebrated writers are quick to attest that they "grew up with the Modern Library."

Damn, it was that Modern Library list that scared me when I googled the 100 Best Novels. Shortly and happily, I got a follow-up email: "She is reading from the ML Board's list, not the readers list." 

I leave you without comment the top ten from those two lists. If you want to see the full 100 of each, here is the link.

Modern Library Board List

1. ULYSSES by James Joyce
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
6. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
7. CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
8. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler 
9. SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
10. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck

Reader's List

1. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
2. THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
3. BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
4. THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
6. 1984 by George Orwell
7. ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
8. WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
9. MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
10. FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard

OK, one comment. Who the hell are these readers?

(2020 addendum: I know who they are and I know how they vote.)

Grey Angel (0)

Melaten - Cologne, Germany

I had a dream the other night. Standing in a town square with a crowd waiting for the shroud-draped statue to be unveiled. And then, there it was, this statue I have had in my blog queue for several months. I guess it was time for the reveal. A Grey Angel.

Relocation in Pictures

September arrival in Ann Arbor

My wanderings take me both North and South these are visual evidence of my recent meanderings.

October - Fall makes an appearance

Early November - still quite fall-like

November 11th - Oops!

December - back to global warming

January 15, 2020 - departure day

January 17th

Art & Literature Through Our Ages

A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight.  --Robertson Davies

[repost from July 2011]

I'm going to tell a little story about art and then I want to ask you a question about books. Both of which flow from the idea expressed in the quote above. Simply put; we see, feel, sense, appreciate art and literature differently at the various stages of our life. We bring different experiences to the works and take away quite different lessons and visions.

In 1968 I was studying in Germany. I spent Easter weekend in Paris with some fellow American students. Late on Sunday afternoon we were to catch our train back to Muenster but I just had to see one more museum. The treasure of impressionist art, now residing in Musee d'Orsay, was in a different space back then and was my last stop in Paris. Fortunately, I took a friend with me because in the final room I visited were five of Monet's Cathedral Rouen paintings. He painted more than thirty of these works done at different times of day and year to catch the cathedral in different lights.

I was transfixed. To get me to leave, it took Steve actually stepping between me and the paintings, literally blocking my view and then moving me out of the room with his hands on my shoulders. We not only would have missed our train, I might still be standing there.

Some art is just that powerful. 


So to my question: What books have you or will you read in your youth, maturity and old age. I myself am not a big re-reader of books and have often times regretted taking up an old favorite that did not age well (or perhaps it is I who was showing the signs of age) but in any case. Which books do you return to?

My own list:

Lord of the Rings (3 times, every 12 years)

Catch-22 (3 times, but long ago)
Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars (2 times)

Burmese Supernaturalism (twice)

The Heart Sutra (five or more, but it's short and available in several translations)


You? The comment section is open.

Hysterical Literature

I've never been censored before, my original post was vanished; but trust me this is an internet find worth the click. NSFW, if you work in a nunnery.

LINK to YouTube site for Hysterical Literature (and orgasms)

BETTER LINK to actual website.

Travelin' Man

Are you a Bob Seger or a Ricky Nelson fan? They both have lyrics about a travelin' man. Not coincidentally, they both focus on women they had known and left. I have traveled a lot, lived many places, some more than once. But my wandering had a lot more to do with periodically changing my life than it did with running to or from various women. Some might disagree.

Here is a laundry list of where I have done my laundry over the decades.

1948 Detroit, MI.
1949-65 Dexter, MI.
1965-69 Kalamazoo, MI.
1970-71 Somerville, MA.
1971-72 Ann Arbor, MI.
1973-75 Hell, MI.
1975-78 Hermosa Beach, CA.
1979-80 Palos Verdes, CA.
1981-82 Redondo Beach, CA.
1983-1990 Hermosa Beach, CA.
1991-1999 San Francisco, CA.
2000-2005 Ann Arbor, MI.
2005-2009 Las Vegas, NV.
2010-2015 Berkeley, CA
2016-2020 The Villages, FL. & Ann Arbor, MI. (semi-snowbirding)

Starting in the late 90s, there were several periods of undomiciled living where I gave up my condo, house or apartment and traveled to and from friends and family. Since 2015, undomiciled has been my permanent condition. Everything I own fits into my car with room to spare. After all what does a writer need except a laptop and some place to be or to be leaving.

I have even written a book about my meandering ways - Undomiciled: How to be the Perfect Long-Term Houseguest. Seeking a publisher.