I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: PETER, BJORN & JOHN-Writer’s Block (2006).

My friend Eugenie told me about these guys: 3 Swedish songwriters whose names are, indeed Peter, Bjorn and John. This is their 3rd CD and I’m not even sure what I thought they would sound like except that Eugenie has great taste. I think I thought they would be a bit more synth poppy (I guess the Abba connection is pretty strong) but instead, they write wonderfully poppy songs, but they are more folky, or alt-rocky. I was really pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this CD.

All three guys sing. Peter sings most of the songs and he sounds like a combination of John Lennon and Michael Penn…his voice varies quite a bit between songs. Bjorn sings two of the songs. His voice is quite different…deeper and more stark, and it’s quite a nice change from Peter’s (not that there’s anything bad about Peter’s). John sings one song, and his voice is fairly similar to Peter’s. But they all do harmonies, so you hear them all the time.

It took me about three listens to fall in love with this CD. There’s a couple of songs that are immediately gratifying; however, the rest really reward multiple listens. Interestingly, it’s the two Bjorn songs that are immediately catchy. “Amsterdam” and “Let’s Call It Off” (which gets a remix on the album too). “Amsterdam” (interestingly, Guster have a fantastically catchy song called “Amsterdam” which this song is not) has this immediately striking whistle (as in a person whistling) as its opening motif. It is stark and haunting, and will have you whistling it for days. “Young Folks” is a duet with Victoria Bergsman (not sure who she is) and has a deliriously catchy chorus. “The Chills” has this great shh-shh-shh sound that is at once chilly and interesting and reminiscent of The Cure’s “A Forest.” As you might guess, the CD covers some pretty different styles and genres, yet the album is not a mishmash. There’s a consistent PB&J sound that unifies the record and leaves you wanting to hit play again after it’s over.

The Swedish music scene has just been exploding lately…The Hives, Dungen, Jose Gonzales, Jens Lekman and PB&J are all adding to the (sadly seen as one-hit novelties) wonderful Cardigans.

[READ: January 2008] Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog

For Christmas, Sarah’s mom gave her this book, not knowing that she missed the intended target by mere inches. As soon as I saw the book I immediately had to read it. Diagramming sentences was always a guilty pleasure of mine, and I am saddened to hear that kids don’t do it anymore.

This book is a memoir of a young word nerd’s love of diagramming sentences. It also describes in fairly great detail some really really really difficult sentences to diagram (Proust and Stein in particular).

I feel there’s not much more to be said about the book…by this point you’ve either tuned out or already ordered it from the library. I will say that I enjoyed the book very much. It got a little pretentiously academic in parts, which was fine for me, but may turn some people off. The early parts are more of the fun, reminiscing bits.

I was looking at Amazon to try and remember parts of the book (it’s been a while since I read it) and I was laughing to see some of the negative critiques of the book.

• One was hilarious in that the reviewer didn’t like that she criticized W. Bush’s speaking style, which, frankly should be criticized everywhere until the man learns to speak with the gravitas of his position. But really, any book about the English language absolutely must take jabs at our President.
• Another common complaint was that she doesn’t explain what diagramming sentences is. While I understand the frustration, she’s not setting out to TEACH diagramming, just to reminisce about it. It certainly couldn’t have hurt to have included it, but really, you can find out about diagramming sentences anywhere. Like here, from Mr Hellmer’s English Class from the Wonderview School District in Hattieville, AR. Or even here, in the dreaded About.com network.
• A third complaint was the overuse of Gertrude Stein in the book. Well, I suspect that when an author (Stein) writes: “I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences,” she should get a lot of air time in the book.

I defend the book on these complaints not because the book is perfect…either I or it lost a bit of steam towards the end…but because some complaints are just silly to leverage at a book. So, basically the book is not perfect, but it is an enjoyable read if you like diagramming sentences.

I actually wrote a short story many many years ago that had diagramming sentences as its main conceit. I sent a copy to Ms. Florey and she graciously acknowledge reading it. Which is more than you can say for some people, I suspect. If you are interested in reading it, I’ll post it next.