My local library had a brown BAG sale and I scored two bags of pre-read books for $4. I packed in 67 books both paperbacks and hardcovers. The books include poetry, fiction, light reading and even a few first edition paperbacks. Yes, Bibliophile heaven. It wasn't easy to lug the bags to my car as book collecting is a heavy affair. I have run out of shelf space despite a recent book purge and I am only keeping the best. If I plan to recycle a book and you want it- let me know.
I have decided to write a series of book reviews based on my new finds called, The Brown Bag Reviews
The debut Brown Bag Review goes to DIVA by Delacorta.
Diva is a small mystery novel written by French writer, Delacorte in 1979 and is to literature what a tone poem is to music. Delacort describes his mystery novels as fairy tales for adults and Diva is a cool, stylish, new wave mixture of surrealism and potboiler. Diva is part of a series of stories in which Alba and Gorodish are the main characters. Publishers Weekly described the mystery, "A lean Parisian thriller featuring an unlikely pair of con artists: Serge Gorodish, a failed classical pianist who now specializes in complex crimes and his partner and protege, a 13-year-old kleptomaniac named Alba... suspenseful, offbeat."
If the book is charming, the film is visually stunning with excellent music. "Amongst the interesting elements of the soundtrack are the aria Ebben? Ne andrò lontana from Alfredo Catalani's opera, La Wally, and a pastiche of Satie's Gnossiennes composed by Vladimir Cosma." Diva, has become a cult classic and both book and film are that rare combination of equal twins. There are several good reviews online and the book is available on Amazon.
"A Thrilling Visual Poem, Jun 5 2004
Reviewer: Kim Anehall "www.cinematica.org"
Diva is poetically visual as it displays a cinematically stunning experience, which renders one speechless with its sublime cinematography...
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7 comments:
Princess! My father's favorite film is DIVA - who knew it was a book! I'm going to have to ask him if he's ever read it. How interesting.
To those of your readers who haven't seen the film, it's well worth watching, I think. Stylistically unusual and thought provoking.
Forgot to say . . .I really liked your description of Diva's cinematography as "sublime."
Love your title! Brown Bag Book Reviews! It has the definite sound of bibliophilic madness!
Thank you for bringing me back these memories! I loved that movie and we watched it several times at the movie theaters. No DVDs at that time ... How many years is that ago? Am I that old?
I forgot to say, that the movie has not only breathtaking pictures but breathtaking and tears bringing music. I love: La Wally
and I am just listening to La Wally via
http://www.radioblogclub.fr/open/111264/la_wally/La%20Wally
Enjoy!
Diva is a testament to the creative spirit - visually surprising and drenched in symbolism - I love this movie.
I first saw the film version of Diva in 1984 and it had a profound effect on me. I remember returning to my small student room and writing almost non-stop into the small hours. Some of the work I produced in that creative outpouring has now been lost but one or two bits remain and are very precious.
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