One of the things I've been reading today is Monogamy by Adam Phillips.

How I discovered it?  Sheila Heti referred to it in a book review in last Sunday's New York Times Book Review.

Phillips is a British psychotherapist with a strong philosophical bent. Monogamy takes the form of 121 aphorisms.  Here's the one Heti quoted in the Times:

"A couple is a conspiracy in search of a crime.  Sex is often the closest they can get."  (21)

Here's another one that I like:

"Suspicion is a philosophy of hope.  It makes us believe that there is something to know and something worth    knowing.  It makes us believe there is something rather than nothing.  In this sense, sexual jealousy is a form of optimism, if only for philosophers."  (41)

A very thoughtful book.

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Guitar progress...So I have an octave worth of notes and a couple of chords and a mix of discipline and play.  I know I'm doing a lot of things wrong but I'm starting to make some connections on the first three strings, in particular.  And I'm playing for nobody but myself.  I'm telling you about it though because maybe you're guitar curious.

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Three books arrived in today's mail which I'm hoping to give myself over to soon:  The Awakening by Eileen R. Tabios, Still Lifes by Eric Selland (Hank's Original Loose Gravel Press) and Exodus by Lars Iyer.

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Listening to Jeff Beck performing this week...Live at Ronnie Scott's.  I've both the CD and the DVD but I've linked to the DVD because it contains cuts that aren't on the CD.  The DVD is great too for the interaction between the band members.  Australian bassist Tal Wilkenfeld is a wonder.  Anyway, it is fabulous.  If I had to rank the top 5 greatest live albums of all time it would be a three way tie for first between this one, The Who's Live at Leeds  and Keith Jarrett's Koln Concerts.  But that's just me.

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