Reviews by Saturn Loft

Meddle showcases Pink Floyd at the top of their progressive rock game. “Echoes” is a 20 minute sonic journey that pretty much makes the whole album, but just about every song on here is worth a listen.

There are a lot of Hildegard Von Bingen CDs out there, but this notably lush interpretation is one of the better ones available. Excellent music for rainy autumn afternoons, quiet contemplation, or decompression from stressful workdays.

In 1689, the poet Basho set out on foot for the north of Japan, traveling with a companion through villages, countryside, and bandit-infested regions. His adventures led to this book, a prose travel memoir seasoned liberally with his masterful haiku. It’s a wonderful read and the paperback edition published by Kodansha USA is gorgeously illustrated. Makes a great gift.

A tale of two sisters, one with a head full of common sense and one with a head full of romantic notions. Both siblings are on a collision course with heartbreak, and their very different reactions make for an engrossing character study. This is one of Austen's darker novels; the status of Victorian women as mere marriageable commodities is clearly illustrated. Frankly a bit more realistic than some of her other books, therefore not quite as fun as Pride and Prejudice.

If John Aubrey were alive today, I imagine it'd be fantastically entertaining to have a conversation with him down at the local watering hole, be it coffeehouse, pub, or disreputable tavern. He collected juicy bits of gossip the way some folk hoard stamps or comic books, and this book is a treasure-house of anecdotes regarding notable Elizabethan figures. You'll read about the naughty hijinks of Sir Walter Raleigh, the ill-timed fart that sent an earl into self-imposed exile for seven years, the very dumb death of a very smart man, and the unforgettable episode of the coffin liquor. Yes, you read that correctly.. coffin liquor.

P. S. Don't miss Oliver Lawson Dick's sparkling biographical essay of Aubrey in this edition. Great stuff.

Andersen’s fairy tales are beautiful but disturbing, like the bright flash of a silvery blade in the moonlight. There’s always that sharp edge lurking just under the surface, like the little boy who discovers an infinite coldness on the other side of the windowpane.
Or the girl dancing through the countryside in bloody shoes.
Or the child of the sea who sacrifices everything for a love that can never be hers.
Truly happy endings are sometimes rare in the world of fairy tales, but in Andersen’s case they’re as rare as an honest politician. It’s easy to forgive that dark tendency of his though, because Andersen’s a consummate storyteller and his work is wonderfully show-cased in Maria Tatar’s annotated edition. Definitely worth getting your hands on a copy.

Just about anything from Honest Jon's Records is gold. They have a knack for ferreting out vintage and archival recordings, usually from a particular time and place, and really making you feel like you're immersed in it. These are African songs with a wonderful Latin rhythm to them, not polished, but very catchy. Worth a listen.

This album’s lovely lilting strings conjure images of trees rustling on warm summer nights and invite the listener into quiet contemplation. Hovhaness is very accessible for a modern composer, his gentle nostalgic style makes for pleasant background music, but it can also be enjoyed for it’s own sake. There’s a slightly exotic tone here as well; Hovhaness was Armenian and he often ornamented his work with Eastern sensibilities. The Shanghai String Quartet does an admirable job, especially with the bagatelles.

A 4,700 year old tale from Mesopotamia featuring kings, wild men, fearsome ogres, and the ever-elusive quest for immortality. It's an astounding bit of fortune that enough fragments have been found (and painstakingly translated) to put together a cohesive storyline, much less make it an enthralling read... never-the-less I found myself sitting in Starbucks, glued to the pages and desperate to know what was going to happen next.

This book contains 3 plays: The Acharnians, a play dealing with the conflict between Athens and Sparta and the need for resolution;
Clouds, a black comedy that mercilessly skewers Socrates and his school of philosophy; & Lysistrata, the raunchy classic in which the women of Greece refuse to grant any sexual favors until their men end the Peloponnesian War.

Anyone trying to translate the plays of Aristophanes has his work cut out for him. Puns are hard to convey from one language to another, and these plays are chock-full of them. Not to mention a host of inside jokes regarding politicians, other playwrights, and notable figures. Not to mention a Greek truckload of phallological and scatological humor (Seriously, the Farrelly brothers have nothing on Aristophanes).
Despite these difficulties, Alan Somerstein does an admirable job with his translation and the notes are extremely helpful in clarifying some of the more obscure jokes. The only thing I really had trouble with is when the Spartans & Megarians take on Scottish accents. It just did not work for me.