stuff I am reading

by paul, on 07.23.2007

I read a lot, but usually only a few books at a time. unfortunately the books I put on reserve at the library came in today, and I am already in the middle of several books, and there's that whole library thing where you have to give them their books back in 3 weeks, so I am currently reading or about to read quite a few books. in order: 1) jonathan strange and mr. norrell - first fiction book in a while, it's set in olde england and is about magicians. so far it's kind of slow going. then again, some of my favorite books were slow starters so hope springs eternal. damn it is raining hard here.

2) the intelligent investor by benjamin graham, notes by jason zweig. my friend ken lent me this, it's obviously a great book although it definitely takes a while to absorb. it doesn't really help that I don't know a lot of the terms he uses and have to look them up on wikipedia as I go. I feel like I am getting to the meat of it though, he's currently discussing ways securities can be undervalued.

3) how equal temperament ruined harmony (and why you should care). about a subject near and dear to my heart, equal temperament vs just intonation. I am super excited to read this, but then again I sing in just intonation almost every day so my opinion on topics like this should be taken with a healthy shot of skepticism.

4) rat race blues: the musical life of gigi gryce. I used to read jazz biographies voraciously in college, haven't read one in a long time. gigi gryce was a great alto player who wrote some cool tunes, played on some great sesssions and then left music entirely to be a teacher. I am fascinated by great musicians who leave music, I just don't really understand it but I guess life can throw you some weird curves.

as a sidenote, my favorite jazz autobiographies are miles davis' "miles" (written with quincy troupe) and art pepper's "straight life". pepper's book is soul crushingly sad but a great read.