| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3383 Registered: 05-2005 |
Cider With Roadies - Stuart Maconie. I like it a lot so far. | ||
| C Gull Member Username: C_gull Post Number: 153 Registered: 05-2005 |
Padraig - I just finished Juliet, Naked which you metioned before. As you said the parallels with some characters on this board are slightly spooky - has the term Go-Betweenologist been coined yet! I've read all of Nick Hornby's books - is it just me but after about 100 pages I always think this is the best thing I've ever read but then he seems to struggle to develop and finish the plot. In particular with juliet, Naked I was never quite sure who the book was about him, her or Crowe and the other minor characters never really got well enough developed (the councilman, the northern soul blokes etc) | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 237 Registered: 05-2005 |
I always think after 10 pages of his books that it's the worst thing I've ever read and put them down. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3384 Registered: 05-2005 |
The ending was a bit unsatisfying, but very few books ever manage to properly tie up everything in a neat bundle. But life is not so neat and tidy either, so I don't mind as much as I used to. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 336 Registered: 10-2006 |
Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, always avoided until it more or less fell into my lap in a bookshop one rainy afternoon - and amazingly compelling it turned out to be, too, especially the light it shines on the working-class pacifist movement during the First World War and the depiction of the (real-life) psychologist William Rivers as he struggles towards formulating treatment for war trauma. I'd rather have spent a bit more time with Sassoon and Owen, perhaps, instead of the ferally hypersexual protagonist Billy Prior, but all in all a gripping read, and, as usual with every book about war, inspiring awe at what was asked of these young men. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 536 Registered: 04-2005 |
Stuart, When I read "Regeneration" I was a student at Napier Polytechnic in Edinburgh. Part of the campus was at Craiglockhart (the old war hospital) and actually being in the same building as the story was kind of spooky. Gave it a certain resonance. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 339 Registered: 10-2006 |
I just know the golf course! Although considering how good Barker is at evoking, say, the French battlefields, or a village on the east coast of England,her Edinburgh is strangely non-existent. A research step too far maybe. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1898 Registered: 10-2004 |
Just finished the David Bowie Low book from the 33 1/3 series. I've read three of these 33 1/3 books now (incl. Murmur and Unknown Pleasures), and Low is probably the best one so far. Extremely informative but also engaging, well written, intelligent, thoughtful, etc... Low has long been one of my very favorite albums, so I'm glad the book lived up to the task. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 354 Registered: 10-2006 |
Head-on/Repossessed - J Cope If my students couldn’t understand why I was so grumpy last week, it was because I had to drag myself away from this unputdownably entertaining masterpiece: so the music business really is as treacherous and drug-fuelled as it’s made out to be…it’s truly amazing what the bodies of young men can withstand. The three pages on JC’s first LSD trip are the funniest thing I’ve read for ages. And the nuts and bolts of songwriting and studio album construction, nicking a riff from Black Sabbath here, a guitar line from the Seeds here…as enthralling as Dylan’s autobiog, though I was sorry not to read how Safesurfer came into being…of course this sort of book just makes you want to hear (almost) EVERYTHING he’s recorded NOW, and of course a strange amount of stuff is unavailable…St Julian, My Nation, World shut…why? A volume 3 taking in the years of fatherhood and alternative historian would be mightily welcome… | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 543 Registered: 04-2005 |
I second your praise for the Cope books! I got the 2-in-1 volume for some ludicrously low price in Fopp years ago and it was a right riveting read. Forgotten who I lent it to, but I never saw it again... Note: I'm not even a huge fan of his music, but his life is pretty enthralling. Kerouac is another one like that, Gerald Nicosia's "Memory Babe" biography is more interesting than most of his own output. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3463 Registered: 05-2005 |
Andrew, check out Off The Road (by Carolyn Cassady - wife of Neal) if you can find it. It's the real story of what became On The Road (which I love anyway). | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3465 Registered: 05-2005 |
She was also Kerouac's lover at times. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 357 Registered: 10-2006 |
A shame you don't like Cope's music, Andrew!! Enthused by the book I've been going over as much of it as I can find, and it shares the autobiog's great bastard-son-of-kevin-ayers energy & enthusiasm for life & music...he's a bit hit and miss, but there's a lot of good stuff... | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 544 Registered: 04-2005 |
No Stuart I don't entirely dislike JC's output (Teardrops were great) and have seen him live a couple of times. Once during the Edinburgh festival in a solo performance, which was quite bizarre as I recall, but extremely entertaining... | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 359 Registered: 10-2006 |
I'd love to see JC live. I always seem to get into musicians who are either dead, retired, or only touring for the money. Speaking of whom, I see Echo & the Bunnies are playing a two-bit seaside resort down the road from here soon...could they possibly be worth seeing?? | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 546 Registered: 04-2005 |
Stuart, Reminds me of a conversation I had with my son, when he was extremely young. We had been watching a video of Jacques Brel (he liked the way he waved his long arms about) together and he announced that he wanted to see him for real. I had to explain that he was actually dead. We then talked about some other singers that I had records of (I remember that Elvis was in there). The end of the discussion was followed by the question 'So are all singers dead then ?' It is true that I have a large music collection by people that died tragically young I 'spose... Thinking back to JC at the Edinburgh festival I think at some point he ran repeatedly round and round the audience, while playing a ukelele. And talked at length about standing stones that he had just visited. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 547 Registered: 04-2005 |
Just read ? William Boyd - Restless Boyd is a very good old-fashioned story-teller. And there's nothing wrong in that. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3500 Registered: 05-2005 |
Chuck Klosterman's Fargo Rock City just arrived in the post this morning so I'll start it later today. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1777 Registered: 01-2005 |
Jean-Pierre Melville - An American in Paris by Ginette Vincendeau. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3533 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Klosterman book is really good. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1785 Registered: 01-2005 |
The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull and The Battle of the Little Big Horn by Nathaniel Philbrick. A very decent read, but I can't rate it as the best book I've read on The Battle of the Little Big Horn. Philbrick ignores time-distance reference testimony to back up some of his Laqst Stand scenarios. However it gives some ignored testimoney by less known 7th Calvary survivors that is very interesting to this reader who has read almost a dozen books on the The Battle of The Little Big Horn. If you've never read a book about TBOTLBH, you could do a lot worse by choosing another book other than a couple of others I would recommend. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3551 Registered: 05-2005 |
The new John Connolly book. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 581 Registered: 04-2005 |
Just finished Joseph O'Connor's "Star of the Sea", which was a stunning read. Anyone got any recommendations for his other books ? Article about Hendrix's arrival in London, giving the a more human side to the great man http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/aug /08/jimi-hendrix-40th-anniversary-death | ||
| C Gull Member Username: C_gull Post Number: 164 Registered: 05-2005 |
Andrew - just finished Ian McEwan's Solar - not quite up there with Atonement but well worth reading. Also just read The Damned United which even if you've seen the film is great. Next up the third instalment of the Dragon Tattoo stuff - should keep me going over my hols. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3635 Registered: 05-2005 |
Luke Haines - Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part in Its Downfall. Fantastic so far. Brilliantly bitchy. Lots on nice references to the Go-Betweens. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 1867 Registered: 09-2006 |
Sounds fun, Padraig. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1910 Registered: 01-2005 |
I finally ordered Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of The Byrds' Gene Clark by John Einarson I also ordered Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 376 Registered: 10-2006 |
Revolution in the head - Ian McDonald Lennon - Johhny Rogan I don't know if McDonald's book was the template for this kind of track-by-track semibiog type of book, but rereading it reinforces its primacy and excellence - he really captures the sheer amount of effort and inspiration that went together into making the songs, full of delicious detail and description - how, for instance, one of the last big quarrels in the group came about when Yoko pinched one of George's chocolate digestives...Rogan's book is an enjoyable journalistic run-through of Lennon's solo work; McDonald's is a work of art in itself. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 584 Registered: 04-2005 |
Now seems to a good moment for me to reread McDonald's book; a friend just gave me the box set of all the Beatles CDs. I used to think that 'Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane' might have been the greatest 45 ever, but 'Paperback Writer/Rain' must be up there too. McCartney's bass-playing is amazing on both songs. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 585 Registered: 04-2005 |
Nice article about 'Billy Liar'. The film was one of my faves when I was younger and in my 'kitchen sink drama' phase. And I would have liked to believe that I would have gone to London with Julie Christie ! http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/sep /01/billy-liar-tom-courtenay-julie-chris tie Just sorry to hear that Oasis used it as a reference. Bunch of no-talents. I saw Courtney on stage at the Traverse in Edinburgh (late 80s?) in 'Moscow Stations' and he was wonderful. I caught sight of him leaving the theatre (alone) and remember thinking that he looked a sad figure for some reason... And Julie Christie : 29 images of her at this excellent site. Love the one with Truffaut in the bar... http://tsutpen.blogspot.com/search/label /Gunslinger%20Guide%3A%20Julie%20Christi e | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1922 Registered: 01-2005 |
Just started: Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of The Byrds' Gene Clark by John Einarson Finished a couple a days ago: Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Jeff Guinn | ||
| Shane Greentree Member Username: Realinspectorshane Post Number: 49 Registered: 03-2007 |
Hermione Lee: Edith Wharton | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1933 Registered: 01-2005 |
I'm about half way thru Mr. Tambouring Man. Gene has finished the Roadmaster sessions and The Byrds are about to reform. | ||
| andreas Member Username: Andreas Post Number: 796 Registered: 04-2006 |
michael, the einarson book is a good one, isn' it? maybe beneath the book 'skydog' the duane allman story one of the more good books about musicians/bands. i read through beefheart: through the eyes of magic by john ''drumbo'' french. 860 pages of don van vliet bashing. an ambivalent book. looking forward to start reading rob young's book electric eden. | ||
| andreas Member Username: Andreas Post Number: 797 Registered: 04-2006 |
electric eden unearthing britain's visionary music that's the complete titel of the book. a book about the british folk music of the last century. i am curious about the chapter where talk talk is mentioned. curious about he connects them and their music to british folk. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1959 Registered: 01-2005 |
Andreas, Yes, it was a great read as was the Duane Allman story. A buddy of mine in Denver still has my "Skydog" copy. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 389 Registered: 10-2006 |
Ovett and Coe: the perfect distance. great to relive this golden age of middle-distance running with these two beautifully contrasted figures...one of my most fondly cherished pipedreams is that if I'd just put in a bit more training I could have been Scotland's answer to these monsters...but reading about what they had to do to get where they did, not to mention the awesome natural talent, it's a dream that seems even more purely absurd than usual... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3754 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Ghosts Of Belfast. A crime/thriller/fantasy about an IRA hit man haunted by the ghosts of those he murdered. It was released as The 12 in the UK as books with Belfast in the title don't sell well there. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2047 Registered: 01-2005 |
Just finished these two last week: True Grit by Charles Portis No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 2001 Registered: 09-2006 |
Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life of Janis Joplin, by Alice Echols I picked this one up because I just read, and very much liked, Echols' book on the disco era. Though I love Janis, I wasn't at all certain that I wanted/needed to make my way through her story again, but I got hooked very quickly, as Echols is an excellent writer: highly readable, and equal parts compassionate, astute and insightful. She also interviewed a whole lot of people, so there's plenty of information as well. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 611 Registered: 04-2005 |
Fascinating article about Detroit's demise and stunning photos of the abandoned buildings http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2 011/jan/02/detroit-ruins-marchand-meffre -photographs-ohagan?intcmp=239 The first photo of the UA cinema at first impression could be a natural cave with stalagmites... http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/g allery/2011/jan/02/photography-detroit?i ntcmp=239 Anyone seen Julien Temple's recent documentary Requiem for Detroit ? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3762 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thanks for the links Andrew. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 406 Registered: 10-2006 |
Road of Bones - Feargal Keane. In 1944 my old man was sitting nervously in northern India hoping fervently that someone would block the Japanese advance before they got anywhere near him, and this is the story of the brave buggers who did just that, at Kohima. Excellent example of well-researched, grimly detailed, told-from-both-sides, compassionate modern history. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2056 Registered: 01-2005 |
Stuart, That had to be pretty hard times for your father being in northern India in 1944. The war with Japan on the Asian maniland and Pacific theater portion of WWII was so ugly, yet many are unaware of the atrocities perpatrated by the Japanese (Unit 731, rape of Nanking). The terrible fire bombing by US B29's of practically ever Japanese city of 50,000 is hard to justify as well, yet most just know about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 407 Registered: 10-2006 |
Ironically, Michael, my dad had the time of his life in the RAF – turned out to be allergic to India’s high temperatures and collapsed as soon as he got off the boat, so they had to send him up into the Kashmiri mountains, where he spent most of his time trying to master a pair of wooden skis. When he eventually came down, from the photos I have, he seems to have been involved mainly in collecting stray dogs. He also developed a love for the hottest possible curries. A lucky old sod, in other words. | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 344 Registered: 02-2007 |
Michael, a lot of people dont realize that more people died in the fire bombing of Tokyo and other main cities than died at Hiroshoma and Nagasaki. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2059 Registered: 01-2005 |
David, Right you are on that point. All the novices know about is the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I've got an interesting book by Robert Morgan, who was the B-17 pilot of the Memphis Belle (the Belle being the first B-17 that got in 25 missions in the European theater and a ticket home). Morgan became a B-29 pilot after touring the states with the Belle selling war bonds. After being a strategic bomber pilot that hit military only targets in Europe flying a B-17, he couldn't live being a B-29 pilot droping fire bombs at low altidues on mostly wooden cities (including Tokyo). Morgan was dropping bombs on cilvilan targets over Japan at less then 10,000 feet, and if he was in the middle to tail end of a big formation he and his crew could smell the burning flesh from the bombs dropped from the B-29's at the front of the formation due to the strong fire enhanced winds over Japan. He became an alcoholic after the war because he couldn't live with what he had done over Japan on almost 30 missions. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 626 Registered: 04-2005 |
Excellent excerpt from a book about protest songs, http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/feb /16/protest-songs-billie-holiday-strange -fruit As a child I remember coming across that photo of the lynching in an Alistair Cooke book and it certainly never loses its repulsiveness. Just another Saturday night outing for the family in Indiana ? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3875 Registered: 05-2005 |
Rock On by Dan Kennedy. Got it in Wellington and have been reading it since. It's about his experiences in marketing management at Warners. It's not as good as the blurb and review snippets make it out to be, but it's a good holiday read anyway. Pretty funny in parts. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 432 Registered: 10-2006 |
Two Ross McDonalds: The Far Side of the Dollar The Galton Case I'd forgotten how good he is, and how much another favourite, Robert B Parker, borrowed from him. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2150 Registered: 01-2005 |
The Civil War A Narrative by Shelby Foote. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1574 Registered: 08-2006 |
The Taliban Shuffle - Kim Barker Kim's a friend of mine, but that association aside, this is a darkly funny, perversely entertaining and ultimately disconcerting look at Kim's time working in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India for the Chicago Tribune. It hones in on the absurdity involved in the Afghan war, and her affection for place and its people comes through loud and clear. Well worth reading if you have any interest in the subject. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1330 Registered: 10-2008 |
bob mould autobiography - see a little light simon reynolds - retromania | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 4000 Registered: 05-2005 |
News Of The World. About its demise anyway. An appropriate 4000th post. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 4001 Registered: 05-2005 |
I urge you all to read this. Hilarious pisstake of Damon Albarn. (I think he's a genius, but he takes himself way too seriously). http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/ 2011/jul/10/stewart-lee-damon-albarn-occ ult |