Library Follies

Oh, if I added up all the time I spent in libraries (and then the reading and the scanning of library materials borrowed), it would end up being a shockingly high proportion of my life.

Anyway, I think I briefly mentioned that I went into Robarts looking for one poetry book (Amy Alvarez's Makeshift Altar) and came out with 10!  This would have been bad enough, but I didn't realize at the time, that they were only signed out to me for one week!  I guess this is because it is time to renew my alumni card (and I didn't get much notice though, to be fair, I don't check that email nearly as frequently as before).

On Tues., I went into UVic library on the way to work and also dropped off a Moebius collection that was due.  I managed to pick up two Anne Carson collections (The Beauty of the Husband and H of H (about Hercules)) and only then did I realize there was something up with the due dates.  (It also means I need to pause, yet again, Thien's The Book of Records and Baldwin's Another Country for a few more days as I plow through these poetry collections.)

As a very short aside, I was vaguely aware of Anne Carson, this year's Nobel Prize winner, and own (and have read!) Short Talks from Brick Books.  But that's about the extent of my knowledge of her.  Atwood recommends The Beauty of the Husband and Men in the Off Hours.  I'm just about to listen to the Secret Life of Books "emergency" podcast to see what they recommend.  Anyway, I think I am off to a reasonable start.  I put a hold on a few more of her books through Robarts (as this will likely pay off sooner than TPL), including Men in the Off Hour, Float and Norma Jeane Baker of Troy, which is actually a play and not poetry.  I think after this, I'll be reasonably conversant with her work.

However, I still had to renew my alumni card.  I was able to do this on-line, but then didn't have time to pay the renewal fee, which meant there was a block on my card.  This became an issue almost immediately.

After work on Wed., I got a message from my son that his Megabus back to Ottawa was delayed, so I swung by the bus terminal at Union and had a few moments with him before he left.  I would probably have grabbed something to eat at Union, but the bike parking has gotten so unreasonable and unsafe that I just went straight up to Hart House.  I was actually going to run in to the Museum(s) there, but I realized it was already 6:30, and I needed to get to the Music Library to grab a few things (including the ARC Ensembles Two Roads to Exile CD, which was ruined in the flood and, unusually, I hadn't ripped beforehand).  They were able to find what I was looking for with no issue,* but then really struggled when it came time to pay the fine.  Four of the librarians kept poking around in the system, and they finally decided that the system was broken on their end.  Fortunately, one of them was a senior librarian who was able to temporarily lift the block, and I was able to check out the CDs!  (I did pay the fine/fee earlier this morning...)

Then I went down to Walter Hall to see a Steve Reich concert put on the by the percussionists.  They did Tehillim, which I don't think I heard before, and Drumming, which I do think I've heard, though I can't remember if this was a "professional" concert (perhaps involving members of TorQ) or another UT concert.  

Set up for Tehillim (minus the singers)

"Curtain call" for Tehillim

Setting up for Drumming

"Curtain call" for Drumming

Anyway, Drumming was absolutely mesmerizing, and it definitely partially makes up for missing the Reich concert last week when I was still in Winnipeg.

 

* It turns out that I should have requested the other CDs and the booklet from the Mosaic set The Complete Solid State Recordings of Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, even though I only need a small handful of tracks from the 4th disc.  Oh well.  I'll get to it eventually.