The Singularity by Dino Buzzati

This Italian book from 1960 was already talking about artifical intelligence. It's about a professor who gets a top secret job. For a while he is confused just what he has to do. They learn that the scientist Endriade modeled the AI like machine they have to use after his dead wife. We come to see what a horrible idea this is for all with the AI reacting in violent ways. I didn't consider this a masterpiece but I thought it was good. It was a novel thinking ahead about how technology can't recreate humanity completely. At least for the AI here the need to not be completely human makes an insufferable existence.

The Enchanted Wood

I watched the movie The Magic Faraway Tree which I thought was so so. I wondered if the series it was based on was better. It was just ok. I give it a 2.5 out of 5. It's about three siblings who find a magical land near where they live. The problem I had with the book was that we didn't get to learn anything about the lives they had at home. When I read a children's book about a magical land, I like to also know where the characters are coming from. I also didn't care for the subplot with Goldilocks and the snowman. The book would have been better without it. I read that a lot of the book has been edited because it's not politically correct anymore. The movie was just loosely based on the book.

In the garden of the North American martyrs

I was introduced to Tobias Wolff through the movie This Boy's Life which was based on his autobiography. In the garden of the North American Martyrs was a good short story collection. The story that really stuck out to me was "An Episode in the Life of Professor Brooke" about a judgmental professor who learns a lesson when he makes his own mistakes. I also liked "Maiden Voyage" about an old couple celebrating their marriage on a cruise ship but the voyage recalls old wounds. Tobias got even better with his other short story collection a decade later entitled The Night in Question.

What every woman knows

This was a good play by J.M. Barrie. He's most known for Peter Pan but he was also a popular playwright. I watched the movie of this years ago and this is one of the few times where I can say the movie is just as good. Helen Hayes did a great job as the wife and the underrated Madge Evans played the other woman well. In this play a man marries a plain woman he doesn't really love. When he becomes a politican he falls in love with the beautiful Sybil. The problem is that the plain woman Maggie writes most of his speeches. SPOILER He comes to see just how much she contributes and realizes what a jerk he is. So J.M. Barrie was a pretty versatile author. At the end though I couldn't help thinking that Maggie deserved better than this lousy guy.