Recently and Currently . . .

• Currently Listening To: Shostakovich, Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102.

• Recently Read and Highly Recommending: The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels. So gorgeously written it hurts. More to come on this soon.
  

• Recently Read and NOT Recommending: Atlantic Canada's 100 Greatest Books. As I've mentioned before, I don't really write very many negative reviews, preferring instead to just ignore works that I feel aren't worth the time/money. In some cases, however, I just feel the need to say something! The idea of a book-length list of some of Atlantic Canada's great books is a good one. There are a number of great books out there to choose from, after all. And had the idea been better executed I'd be all for it (and I'm not going to even argue about the choices . . . each individual reader's list is going to be different. One of the biggest strikes against this book, though, is absolutely no poetry was included. Considering how many great Atlantic Canadian poets there are this was just a really odd decision on the part of the authors). And I've been thinking about what I consider to be some of Atlantic Canada's greatest contributions to the world of letters for some time (as have many of my friends and fellow bloggers who find this subject of interest) so I can't even say this book was useful for sparking interest in a topic. Alas.

• Recently Watched and Enjoyed: Who doesn't love a good Noel Coward play adapted to film? Well, probably a lot of people. The distinctive Coward approach to life doesn't suit some. And the tone can be somewhat dated. I tend to like his works, though, from time to time, and have enjoyed various film adaptations of same. My favourite is the rather frivolous, but extremely well-acted Relative Values (2000) starring Julie Andrews (and who doesn't love Julie Andrews?). And I'd have to say that the recently filmed Easy Virtue (2008) isn't too shabby either. The latter has the darker undercurrents of post-war malaise, but both have something interesting to say about human nature (and basic decency) when disparate cultures/characters collide. Noel Coward is also just so very good at pointing out how cruel some "nice" people can be.

• Currently Reading and Enjoying: Brent MacLaine's Athena Becomes a Swallow.