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Post by Admin on Apr 7, 2008 19:44:39 GMT -5
New York PostIf life imitated art, then David Hyde Pierce would be up to his neck in Mickey Spillane novels and Playbills. But Pierce - formerly and forever known as the finicky Niles Crane of "Frasier" - is more than the singing (and dancing) detective he plays in "Curtains." Granted, he prepared for the role of the theater-loving Boston gumshoe by reading "lots of Holmes" - both Sherlock and Rupert Holmes, who cowrote the book on which the Kander and Ebb musical is based. And it may have helped, since the role won Pierce a Tony, something that eluded him on his last Broadway outing, in "Spamalot." But his literary preferences lie elsewhere. "I normally read non-fiction," he tells The Post's Barbara Hoffman. "I hate reality television, but I like reality reading." The following selections would seem to bear him out. The Letters of Noel Coward by Noel Coward, edited by Barry Day
"I couldn't put it down, which made driving difficult."
Strong at the Broken Places by Richard Cohen
"Richard's a friend and these interviews with five people dealing with chronic illness [are] very bracing, very inspiring."
Japanese Death Poems compiled by Yoel Hoffmann
"There's a whole tradition of Japanese monks and poets somehow sensing that death is near, and writing final poems that usually mention blossoms falling, snow, etc. I've always thought a good death poem would be, 'I wonder what this button does? Oh.'"
The Rest Is Noise by Alex Ross
"A funny and very readable explanation of how 20th century music got all weird."
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Post by lemur on Apr 8, 2008 17:09:16 GMT -5
Tee hee, that's a great find. I love stuff like that - finding out what your idol likes to read, listen to, eat, whatever.
I'm glad he has interesting choices, I'd be very disillusioned if he was all Da Vinci Code! Though I rarely read non fiction, I have to say. I sort of forget it exists at times - I'm a fiction junkie. Am curious about those titles now though - especially the Noel Coward one.
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Post by ironic maiden on Apr 8, 2008 18:47:14 GMT -5
I've been trying to get my hands on Noel Coward's letters since I heard about them last year. I may have to break down and order from Amazon (I love Amazon, but there's something about being able to browse and touch the books before you buy them). Noel Coward's plays are fantastic, so I can only imagine what a great correspondent he was.
Thanks for posting this!
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Post by Jules on Apr 8, 2008 20:15:59 GMT -5
Strong at the Broken Places interests me. I took a look. One of the five has lymphoma, another has ALS, another is bi-polar. Very interesting and touching that it means something to David.
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Post by louise on Apr 9, 2008 1:14:29 GMT -5
I'd read this article before you posted it here. I love this kind of fascinating insight too. I'm a nonfiction as well as a fiction person myself. I really want to get my hands on the Noel Coward letters too. And my son is going to get Alex Ross's the Rest is Noise. He's a real music fan. Plays classical violin and rock drums, though not necessarily at the same time.. Strong at the Broken Places interests me. I took a look. One of the five has lymphoma, another has ALS, another is bi-polar. Very interesting and touching that it means something to David. I might find this a bit heavy, but agree with you Jules. It's very touching that it means something to David.
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Post by ironic maiden on Apr 26, 2008 19:29:50 GMT -5
I've started reading Noel Coward's letters. DHP's right. It's fascinating! Coward's charming and witty, but on top of that he corresponded with incredible people. Everyone from the Queen Mother to Winston Churchill, Greta Garbo, Virginia Woolf, and George Bernard Shaw, to name a few. What a life that must have been. It's more a biography through letters than solely a collection of letters. The editor provides a lot of background and also includes letters to Noel Coward, not just from him.
This is the verse to start off the first chapter: I never cared who scored the goal Or which side won the silver cup, I never learned to bat or bowl But I heard the curtain going up.
Gee, now why would this strike a chord with DHP?
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Post by Jules on Apr 27, 2008 0:17:30 GMT -5
I've started reading Noel Coward's letters. DHP's right. It's fascinating! Coward's charming and witty, but on top of that he corresponded with incredible people. Everyone from the Queen Mother to Winston Churchill, Greta Garbo, Virginia Woolf, and George Bernard Shaw, to name a few. What a life that must have been. It's more a biography through letters than solely a collection of letters. The editor provides a lot of background and also includes letters to Noel Coward, not just from him. This is the verse to start off the first chapter: I never cared who scored the goalOr which side won the silver cup,I never learned to bat or bowlBut I heard the curtain going up.
Gee, now why would this strike a chord with DHP? That is so apposite and so cool. I think I sense another t-shirt moment coming on....
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Post by louise on Apr 27, 2008 4:12:56 GMT -5
This is the verse to start off the first chapter: I never cared who scored the goalOr which side won the silver cup,I never learned to bat or bowlBut I heard the curtain going up.
Gee, now why would this strike a chord with DHP? Re Noel Coward's letters Well guess what, Sensefille? I just got this book the other day and already I'm annoying my husband, by chuckling (or laughing out loud) every so often and reciting passages to him. Small world that it is I just read the verse above to him this morning, with that very comment! Can't think what would draw DHP to such a book! I've been a fan of Noel Coward's for years ever since my grandmother took me as a child to see the poorly received movie musical "Star" about the life of Gertrude Lawrence. My grandmother, who loved the theatre, was almost the same age as Noel Coward and a huge fan. I even studied his plays at school. The general view at that time was that his plays were a bit frivolous and upper middle class at a time when the fashion was for gritty kitchen sink drama, but our English teacher was a fan. He was such an amazing talent in so many areas, and of course there's his wonderful charm and legendary wit! Reading the book of letters to and from him is such a wonderful insight! I'm going to enjoy this. And of course we see the largely lost art of letter writing. In the future will we be reading collections of emails or worse still text messages? I'm sure Noel Coward's would have been good!
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Post by ironic maiden on Apr 27, 2008 6:26:17 GMT -5
Re Noel Coward's letters Well guess what, Sensefille? I just got this book the other day and already I'm annoying my husband, by chuckling (or laughing out loud) every so often and reciting passages to him. Small world that it is I just read the verse above to him this morning, with that very comment! How funny! That's pretty neat. Small world, indeed. Noel Coward: bridging the gap between the US and the UK, and making the hours pass more quickly and with more amusement, since 1899! Noel Coward's largely ignored in schools here, I'm afraid. I don't think many people outside of the theatre know how he is. My introduction to his work was the revival of Private Lives on Broadway in 2002. I went because I didn't want to miss an opportunity to see Alan Rickman perform live, but I left a huge Coward fan. I bought that play, along with Blithe Spirit and Hay Fever, the next day and was hooked. If he can dictate a good telegram, can you imagine what he would do with text messaging and instant messaging? It's unfortunate that much of our communication is so ephemeral now, and so utilitarian. My sister is an English professor and most of her students don't understand why they need to learn how to write well. There's no appreciation for a well-turned phrase.
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Post by jenniferemt3 on Jul 15, 2008 21:21:21 GMT -5
sorry lemur didn't realize it was already up. I will have to check these out. Since ya'll are saying how good they are.
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