The Reading Room

« first day (2113 days earlier) ← previous day next day → last day (2527 days later) »

BESW

1:30 AM

List of participants in the Museums for All initiative.

user15026

2:00 AM

@BESW This doesn't apply to non-Americans but I am SO HAPPY it is a thing

BESW

@Ash I know, right.

user15026

It is delightful

BESW

They don't mention the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on that list, but an EBT card will get you a $2 admission there. And because it's the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and she was kinda batty, admission is free if it's your birthday or your name is Isabella, and you get $2 off your ticket if you wear Red Sox paraphernalia.

user15026

@BESW I don't know who she is but it delights me that it has rules like that

BESW

She was the wife of a very wealthy businessman in Boston in the early 1900s. She spent a lot of her life flying around the world and collecting whatever art and architecture caught her fancy, then throwing massive parties and inviting the public to see her collections.

When she died she made sure the collections would be preserved as a museum exactly as she wanted it, which included the above stipulations about admission, forbidding any changes to the arrangement of the collections, and requiring regular musical performances in the gallery.

It's kinda wild. Her friends' watercolors are next to world-famous paintings, a part of her favourite dress hangs underneath the first Titian to be displayed in America (because she thought they went well together), there's a whole room of fireplace mantles. Hardly anything is labelled. Even the staircase banisters were chosen by her and imported from around the world.

There's also a few portraits of her by very famous painters, and a Rembrandt hangs unlabelled in a shadowy corner in the gallery where you can listen to live music on the weekends.

user15026

2:16 AM

That sounds delightful

BESW

This is Ms. Gardner and this is the courtyard at the center of the museum.

"Delightful" is a good word for it, but it drives conservationists bonkers and is admittedly based on the common but troublesome practice of rich people walking off with other places' stuff.

But, you know, that's not exactly unique to Gardner.

One thing I really do like about Isabella is that she had little patience for concepts of "classics" or artistic canon. If she liked it, that was enough.

If she didn't like it, it didn't matter what anybody else thought.

user15026

@BESW Oh, yeah, I am sure it is fraught with issues

user15026

but I like the idea that it exists just because she liked things

BESW

Aye. It's one of those things where you can like it without apologising for its problems.

It's so awesome that she not only collected exactly what pleased her, but that she dedicated a large sum of her time and money and legacy to making sure the people of Boston got access to it.

user15026

@BESW yeah, that's part of why it tickles my fancy, because she was like "okay i like stuff and I want to make sure that other people can also appreciate the stuff"

BESW

2:34 AM

Indeed.

It's the sort of thing that a writer would have to be very audacious to put in a novel.

And makes me speculate that some of Allingham's more outlandish characters are based on people she actually knew.

6 hours later…

Bookworm

8:33 AM

Q: Does Eric Birling rape Eva Smith?

In an Inspector Calls by J.B Priestly does Eric Birling actually rape Eva Smith? Does "force" indicate rape, and did he "force" himself into the apartment or onto her? If he did rape her - why does she stay with him? There seem to be conflicting interpretations around this point on whether he ...

8 hours later…

Bookworm

5:00 PM

Q: Does the Birling family (and Gerald) represent the 7 deadly sins and/or the story of the pharaoh?

One of my theories that I will be using for my English exam (on Friday) is that the Inspector is like Moses and the Birling family being like the pharaoh. The pharaoh in the bible decides to free the slaves and then doesn't and then God punishes him. In the book Mr and Mrs Birling originally does...

an-inspector-calls j-b-priestly

3 hours later…

BESW

7:46 PM

A replica of mythical ship Argo that bore Jason & the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece sails in the C… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/866775310339100673

Tweeted by ticiaverveer on May 22, 2017 at 9:58 PM

Gallifreyan

7:57 PM

@Bookworm Read as "Geralt", rushed to see the Witcher question, got disappointed :'(

This month's Humble Book Bundle features Super Nebula Author Showcase, including Isaac Asimov, George R. R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert, William Gibson, Roger Zelazny, and many others.

BESW

8:14 PM

I have... let's say mixed feelings... about the Nebulas.

Gallifreyan

It's not about the Nebulas, it's about some good authors and charity.

I've read the Asimov book, but none of the rest.

BESW

There's some Okorafor and Butler in the highest bracket.

I find that Yolen is kind of hit or miss.

Hamlet

9:05 PM

I have a self-answered question I've been slowly working on. I'm pretty proud of it because it manages to challenge about five misconceptions about literature at once.

But of course, for some reason it's unreasonably hard to find good sources about this topic.