The summer before the dark...and other titles I love

Irregardless of whether I've read them or not, here are some of my favorite book titles:
All my friends are going to be strangers (Larry McMurtry)
August is a wicked month (Edna O'Brien)
The awful rowing toward God (Anne Sexton)
Because it is bitter, and because it is my heart (Joyce Carol Oates)
Briefing for a descent into Hell (Doris Lessing)
Enormous changes at the last minute (Grace Paley)
No country for old men (Cormac McCarthy)
Places in the world a woman could walk (Janet Kauffman)
A short history of a small place (T.R. Pearson)
That was then, this is now (S. E. Hinton)
To bedlam and part way back (Sexton)
Waiting to exhale (Terry McMillan)

What I'm Listening to Now

Money, family ties, and cultural prejudices are the themes in L'Affaire by Diane Johnson, another comedy of social mores from a modern-day master, as multiple cultures collide at a French ski resort. One character perishes in an avalanche and his relatives come together to fight over who gets what. The attitudes of the French toward Americans and the British (and vice versa), are examined up close in this rarefied world. The continually contrasting points of view leaves the reader (or, in this case, listener) with continually shifting sympathies but completely engrossed. Not a sequel, exactly, to Le Divorce and Le Mariage, although there is a bit of overlap of characters. If Nancy Mitford was alive today, this is what she would be writing.

What I'm Reading Now

Dishwasher, an amusing slacker memoir by Pete Jordan, detailing "one man's quest to wash dishes in all 50 states", takes its place alongside Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, and Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain to make up an erstwhile kitchen sink trilogy.

Adding my voice to the fray

Even though I tend to be a fan of closure, I enjoyed the non-ending - it was cool, cunning, clever and cruel, all at the same time. And if you think about it, VERY David Chase - he does have a history of pulling his punches - witness the off-screen whacking of Adriana and bringing in guest stars for one season who get whacked (Buscemi, Pantoliano), before we get too involved with them as regular cast members. And, I was thinking a few weeks ago, how could this possibly end with Tony's (on screen) murder, when we still have jokey scenes like Sil reading a book on How to Clean Practically Anything?
Anyway, I thought I couldn't wait for it be over so I could put it behind me, and of course now I'm watching the whole thing all over again on DVD, starting with Season One.

More Sopranos Anxiety, or: Some Vital Questions for a Very Special Episode

1) Will Sil emerge from his coma just long enought to admit that he axed Ade?
2) Will Bobby and Karen be reunited in the Afterlife? And is there lasagna there?
3) Will Phil get his own spin off ("The Leotardos"??)? Or be, ahem, "spun off"?
4) Will Junior be sprung from the loony bin merely to take another pot shot at Tony?
5) To quote an anonymous blogger: "Will Carmela save anyone besides her hair and nail people"?
6) Finally: Will Janice be the last Soprano standing?

Macca

On the eve of a Starbucks-wide explosion of his latest opus (really), I am listing a few of my favorite Paul McCartney songs from his post-Beatles catalogue:
1) My Brave Face: Another of those songs I just can't get out of my head, this collaboration with Elvis C. gave Paul M. a bit of that Lennonish edge he'd been missing.
2) Live and Let Die: A meditation, if you will, on a post-apocalyptic environment.
3) Helen Wheels: I think the entirety of Band on the Run is fabulous, but this song really is "the bomb," or whatever the kids say these days.
4) Mull of Kintyre: Isn't this the most gorgeous song ever?
5) Through the Long Night: Actually, this is a Billy Joel song!

Company

I had a terrific opportunity to see the revival of Company today, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on 47th Street. The show is chock-a-block with songs that sound like a list of Stephen Sondheim's greatest hits: Another Hundred People, The Little Things You Do Together, Getting Married Today, The Ladies Who Lunch, and Side By Side By Side, among many others. It is following in the (new) tradition of the Sweeney Todd revival, i.e., let's save money by having a minimalist set and have the actors play their own instruments instead of paying for a full orchestra. Bizarrely enough, it works and makes for a much more intimate theatrical experience. The lead actor, Raul Esparza, actually resembles a youngish Sondheim, who I've heard the character is to some extent based on, and although of course no one can fill the formidable Elaine Stritch's shoes, Barbara Walsh comes pretty darn close.