Book Log – Tom Stoppard: Plays 4

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Tom Stoppard: Plays 4 by Tom Stoppard

Fourth in a five book collection of Tom Stoppard’s works.  I’ve read book 5 as well, which contains my favorite Stoppards, Hapgood and Arcadia.

This one is a collection of his adaptations: Dalliance, Undiscovered Country, Rough Crossing, On the Razzle, and The Seagull.  They’re all fine plays, some comedies, some dramas.

I don’t really have a lot to say about them.

Book Log – Songbook

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Songbook by Nick Hornby

With this work, I have completed my reading of the Non-Fiction and Fiction oeuvre of available Nick Hornby… or have I?

According to Wikipedia, there’s something called Contemporary American Fiction he wrote in 1992.  No real info about what it is.  Hmm.  And there’s some short stories and edited anthologies I haven’t bothered with.  And I gave up on Fever Pitch… I’m not going back, because I simply don’t care about football/soccer that much.

And actually, that’s why I haven’t read Songbook until now.  I was afraid of another Fever Pitch, except about music.  And I don’t care about music either, to own the truth.

Which is not to say I don’t enjoy watching and playing soccer, or listening to music.   I just don’t burn a lot of energy thinking about it.

But it is Nick Hornby, and the passion and wit he brings to talking about books in his Believer column is present here, to the extent that I almost, for a moment or two, was interested in checking out some of the music he’s talking about.  The feeling still comes and goes a bit.  Hopefully, it will pass, because I don’t need to see funds desperately needed to buy books get funneled into mp3s.