As if there isn't enough out there to read, I keep finding links to "forgotten classics" of the 19th century:

"forgotten classics" to put on your Kindle or Google Play  (English As She Is Spoke by Pedro Carolino is a truly funny read. Buried within this thread are mentions of books that provide interesting insights on how the mind and things like melancholy were once regarded. Those titles are not necessarily classic, but compelling in their take on life.)

20 Classic Novels You've Never Read  

Most of the titles referenced can be found for free in the Kindle or Google Play Books store!

The Missed Connections of their time...

Does your mind ever get scrambled when you think of all there is to do in the world, both what you want to do and what you have to do? All the books you want to read, the sights you want to see, the places to go?

Like many book lovers, I have a TBR list I'm sure I won't finish even if I live to be 99. Whenever I think of all there is to do, especially the exciting things, I'm usually able to snap myself out of my funk.

I just downloaded The Agony Columns of The Times 1800-1870,free from my Google Play Books app. It's fascinating stuff and not only because it's reproduced exactly as it would have looked to 19th century readers but also because it's a collection of columns from what seem to be the Missed Connections of their time. The above is just one of many examples.

The "agony" is supposedly taken from the writer's despair of ever again seeing the person he (though sometimes women would post an ad) found so fascinating, though other ads are more laments or thinly veiled messages that hint at illicit affairs or something from a spy novel. 

Alice Clay's introduction to the book could have been written today it has such modern insight into the human heart. Just one of the passages from her intro:

With hearts that are breaking, men and women can go through the duties of every-day life, wearing calm and even smiling faces. He knew human nature well who wrote 'Broken hearts are dumb or smile.' What is there to tell us that such smiles are only on the surface?

But not all of the ads are missed connections of the first encounter kind. Many repeat names and are mysterious and signed in code. You'd need a degree in cryptology to decipher them.

In one striking ad, someone refers to Cenerentola and writes: Until my heart is sick, have I tried to frame an explanation for you, but cannot. Silence is safest if the true cause is not suspected: if it is, all stories will be sifted to the bottom. Cenerentola is Italian for Cinderella, but it (if you add a "La" in front) is also the name of a 19th century opera.

For a book having an editor, it doesn't offer much source material or any footnotes (marvelous introduction aside!) You have to figure out references and codes yourself (if the codes can even be cracked.)

Despite these problems, you can have fun looking up things or recognizing them because you already know some of the popular culture at the time. There is sadness yet familiarity and comfort in the general malaise of the human condition always present in The Agony Column. Take out the dates and the formal language and you could almost be reading the best of Craig's List.

 

Happy Friday! If you need something to perk up your day head over to You Tube or your favorite place to listen to music and type in "Burning Down The House" as covered by Tom Jones and Nina Persson. It's so much fun to listen to and you can understand every single word. It's not as moody (definitely not!) or as eerie as The Talking Heads, but it's something else, all the same.

 

If high energy is not what you seek, try listening to the transcendent and hypnotic remix of Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight." It gets the best remix treatment of any song I've ever heard. It takes something that is already pretty awesome and makes it impossible to forget.

 

Seven minutes and twenty seconds of sensual beats, melodic piano and a haunting sound that is much better than what you find in the original. The only problem is the cost.

 

You cannot find this in MP3 form anywhere and the import price is enough to give you real pause. If you can afford it, though, it's definitely worth shelling out the money. In the meantime, you can always head over to You Tube and take a listen...or two.

 

 

 





If you check out The Human League‘s 1981 album Dare (also consider the special edition "Dare/Love and Dancing" featuring remixed instrumental versions of the album’s original songs) you might be surprised, both at its fresh sound and how the group influenced modern artists such as She Wants Revenge, Moby, and Little Boots.

In a recent issue of MixMag, synth pop star Grum lists Dare as one of the albums he credits for influencing his field. He writes: "…the album is very electronic while having a real human song writing warmth to it, and that’s something I really admire." Grum adds that The Human League was experimenting with different techno dance sounds before a lot of 80s groups were.

"Don’t You Want Me?" is considered the group’s biggest hit, but the rest of Dare is something else altogether, yet often left behind. If you ask me, "Don’t" is a pretty good song (still sounding great all these years later!) in itself. There’s a special place inside my heart for this song since it was one of the very first 45s I remember buying at a local Harmony Hut.

Tracks such as "Darkness," "Seconds," and "The Sound of the Crowd" carry a tinge of despair I didn’t catch when I was a kid. "Seconds" in particular is very somber and contemplative and might have escaped the attention of an 11-year-old just looking for a good beat. But as an adult who also likes some meat on the bones of a good song, "Seconds" is wonderful and clocks in at just under five minutes, yet it feels much longer — as if it’s carrying you along in a wave of sadness that has never sounded so mellow or alluring.

 "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of" is easily the most dance accessible song on the CD…I love it the most!

and on another 80s note (though completely different in any music sense)a great little write-up in a recent issue of Classic Pop:

 

Acceptance is key to inner peace

from Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight:

"Why do you hate me so much?” I heard myself ask. Part of me was glad that I had. The other, smarter part of me wanted to throttle that first part. “Tell me what I’m doing and I’ll try to stop, I swear.”

“Can you stop being you?” Zadie asked quietly. Her face was so close now. Close enough that we could have kissed. “I mean, if you can, that would be awesome. Otherwise, I guess we’ll have to stick with me hating you.”

The scene relates to a much larger bullying problem that is at the center of this riveting and well-written novel, yet you don't have to be bullied to long to ask someone this in real life.

I almost found myself going up to someone today and asking her this, but then I realized: a) of course not everyone is going to like you and b) if someone takes a dislike to you and (as far as you know) there's nothing you can do about it, what is asking "why do you hate me so much?" really going to change about the situation? 

I would love to say to her "tell me what I'm doing and I'll try to stop," but my gut instinct tells me there's nothing I could do, that the reason is because of who I am and not what I do. 

And, of course, there's the harsh, but simple truth that sometimes people don't even have to have a reason to dislike us. :(