| Author | Message | ||
     Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 136 Registered: 08-2006 |
A borrow from the "Whatcha watchin?" thread. Me, "Agincourt" by Juliet Barker, a fascinating book about the famous battle, and "The Lay of the Land" by Richard Ford, the third novel in a series started by "The Sportswriter." I'm in the early going, but it's good so far. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 991 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Loch Ness Story - Nicholas Witchell. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 935 Registered: 04-2005 |
Re-reading Augusten Burroughs's "Running with Scissors," though the movie sounds disappointing so I'll probably skip it. Thanks to my job, I'm also reading an early draft of a manuscript by Lauren Weedman, comedian/playwright/TV performer (former Daily Show correspondent). It's hilarious. I may be pimping this book here when it comes out next year. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 901 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Truth - With Jokes, by Al Franken. It's really good, very funny in parts. Very precient too. He predicted the Republican mid-term collapse a year in advance. Colour me impressed. I only predicted it a week in advance! I ought to read more books. I really enjoy them when I do. (I do read all the time, but mostly newspapers and magazines). Oh, and my daughter asked me if that was me on the cover of the book. I passed this off as she is five-years-old, but then someone at the gym asked me the same thing. Al Franken is 14 years older than me people! Stop already. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 97 Registered: 09-2006 |
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr. (a.k.a. Alice B. Sheldon)...poetic, dystopian science fiction stories, many of which I read when they came out in the 70s and which hold up very well today. I'm reading it in anticipation of a new biography of the author which sounds great as well. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 168 Registered: 04-2005 |
'Postively 4th Street' by David Hajdu: the fascinating account of the tangled relationships between Dylan, Joan and Mimi Baez and Richard Farina. Made me dig out Mimi and Richard's recordings - "Reno, Nevada" is a great song (and one I first heard from a Fairport Convention radio session on 'Heyday'). The book also contains Rick Danko's take on Dylan's motocycle crash. A woman rushed from a bush at some traffic lights and pushed him off his 'bike! Apparently she had to get up early to go to work and was fed up with Dylan regularly revving his motocycle at these lights in the middle of the night. Anyway, the bike accident probably saved his life in 1966. | ||
| abigail law Member Username: Abigail Post Number: 106 Registered: 06-2005 |
re-reading nick kent's dark stuff imperial blandings - pg wodehouse | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 57 Registered: 05-2005 |
Just a quick note to say that one of the most popular french actors died today : Philippe Noiret. Perhaps some of you knows him... He played in "Cinema Paradiso" http://fm4.orf.at/connected/215861 | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 999 Registered: 05-2005 |
RIP Philippe. From the sublime to the daft, just bought my annual copy of the Scottish favourite, the Oor Wullie annual. tis a great read, in the bestest of traditions. Lights off, night! | ||
| John B. Member Username: John_b Post Number: 58 Registered: 10-2006 |
yes, RIP Philippe Noiret and on the reading side: Just finished The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy. I love his staccato style although as a non-American I sometimes encounter slang-problems. also some German stuff recently with which I don't want to bore the board | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 787 Registered: 03-2005 |
That was Spence's 999th entry. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1004 Registered: 05-2005 |
i must get out more... | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 98 Registered: 09-2006 |
Joe, I think even we born-and-raised folks have problems with Ellroy's slang at times, in part because, in my considered opinion, he makes a certain percentage of it up...oh, BTW, to reference the movie thread, I picked up "Double Life of Veronique" the other day...incredible set...great film, of course, with stellar extras to match. | ||
| John B. Member Username: John_b Post Number: 61 Registered: 10-2006 |
Ah, Allen, thanks, I must check out Veronique now. and re Ellroy: I am glad to hear that, and yes, now that you said it some of the slang could really be made up. Still a fascinating read. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1206 Registered: 03-2006 |
Echo Park - Michael Connelly. Great L.A. noir... On that subject, though I loved the movie of L.A. Confidential, I found the novel nearly impossible to read... | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 99 Registered: 09-2006 |
I had the same trouble with my first Ellroy, "The Big Nowhere"...gave up on it twice, though it was obvious there was something there. Nudged my way along for awhile, slowly became acclimated, found it well worth the effort, and forthwith tore through his entire ouvre (sp?). It may help to know that it's not essential that you pick up every little bit of plot as it rolls along...bathing in the ambience can be enough. I'm not as big on him as I once was, but still think that when he's on, few can beat him. Thought they did a fine job on the L.A. Confidential - the only thing they didn't quite capture (and from what I glean from the reviews the same is true of the movie version of "Black Dahlia") is how fevered and near-crazed his characters and setting often are...there's often the feeling that violence could break out at any moment. | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 321 Registered: 07-2005 |
I'm on page 100 of the Richard Ford book Lay of the Land great hunk of literature.It is not for the light reader. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1191 Registered: 05-2005 |
I never have any time for reading, how do you guys manage it? I used to read a lot between the ages of 8 and 20, but since then it has decreased at an alarming rate to virually zero. A typical day for me is : sleep for 8 hours if I am lucky, work for 8.5 hours (including some weekends), time spent in car travelling to and from work, and acting as taxi for kids = 2.5 hours. This leaves 5 hours to play with. Approx 2 hours spent helping out around the house, having a bath/shower, shave etc. This leave 3 hours for "me" time. And thats all spent watching TV, playing music,reading music mags and mucking about on the PC. I find that even if I attempt to read a book after all that I can hardly keep my eyes open  | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 139 Registered: 08-2006 |
TV and kids - neither are present in my house, which frees up a lot of time! Kind of an ascetic existence, I guess, but I do barrel through the books. Jerry, I'm about 200 pages into the Ford book. You're right - it's not exactly Elmore Leonard in terms of pacing. I love the writing, though. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1209 Registered: 03-2006 |
This may sound "reverse snobbish", but I'm kinda over serious literature. I'd much rather read a potboiler of some kind, though I did read the new Woodward book, "State of Denial", which was excellent, and which I think everyone should read. I picked up the new book by Thomas Pynchon, all 1,000 plus pages of it, and put it down. I realized, "I'll never finish this"... It's the ole "fun/effort" ration kicking in. It could never be good enough to justify the time put in to reading it. On that note, I LOVE Elmore Leonard and have consumed everything he's written. He's a frigging genius, in his own way quite sly and profound... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 140 Registered: 08-2006 |
Welcome back, LK, and I agree about Leonard. I actually interviewed him at his home a few years back for a magazine profile. A VERY unassuming guy - although his protestations about being a "crank it out" kind of writer are a bit disingenuous given the praise he receives from all quarters. "City Primeval" is still my favorite by him, although almost everything I've read has been excellent. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1211 Registered: 03-2006 |
Thanks, Rob. I was in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, visiting with family. Gorgeous area, but Christ, it's nice to be back home. Very cool, about ole "Dutch". I've read that, that he is incredibly low key and minimizes his own gifts, so it's interesting to hear that validated by your experience. I'm a huge fan of that genre - I love Robert B. Parker, John D. MacDonald and particularly James Lee Burke (who, if you haven't read, you should go by a book store today and pick some up) - but I think Leonard is the best, by far. He is the god of the genre. I'd been reading his stuff faithfully for years, and was gratified when I learned recently that my favorite "serious" author, Martin Amis, was a huge fan, too...If only Tom Waits would declare his undying love for the GBs... | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 489 Registered: 08-2004 |
I have the same problem as Kevin. Not enough time in a day. I've had the same 3 books on the go for 2 years now. In the past the usual fiction suspects were regular reads: Elmore Leonard, James Ellroy, James Lee Burke, James Herbert, Nick Pileggi & lots of music biogs. I usually get through a book if I go away for a while. We stayed in a cottage in Scotland for a week last year & I read a Morrissey biog in between jigsaw puzzles with kids. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 950 Registered: 04-2005 |
Kevin, reading your daily time allocations, I'm amazed at how much new music you hear and seem to really absorb. I take it you listen a lot in the car and at work? I figured you had to be listening 16 hours a day to be so up on things! | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1192 Registered: 05-2005 |
Spot on Kurt. We work a 3 shift system at work. early shift when everyone is in the office - no music can be played. back shift and nightshift we play music for the whole 8.5 hours - same at weekends. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 932 Registered: 05-2005 |
Siege At Jadotville by Declan Power. It's about the Irish army's experience in a battle as part of a UN contingent in the Congo in 1961. It's excellent. Full disclosure: Declan is a friend of mine. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 325 Registered: 01-2005 |
Rebel: The Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles: Book One by Bernard Cornwell The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records by Ashley Kahn | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 326 Registered: 07-2005 |
Hey LK just to pick you up you say you are over serious literature, I bet some people say that about music and start listening to I dunno some mid of the road easy listening. Are the 2 comparable.Do you never feel like a litrary challenge. I guess I like a seriouscread occasionally,but most of the time slide in to the crime scene. Particularly like James Ellroy, Ian Rankin nad James Lee Burke ( but are all his not the same)and Walter Moseley | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1231 Registered: 03-2006 |
That's an excellent question, Jerry. And begs another: does "serious music" (the kind we "superior people" listen to) supplant the need for serious literature in one's life? I would argue you get the same kind of...value/benefit from both. All really good art works the same way, at least for me. It lifts you up, gives you a taste of the transcendent and the universal... Also, some of the critics probably don't think so, but I think the writers you cite above really DO write serious lit. It's as fully realized and meaningful as anything by, say Dave Eggers or...name writer of your choice. I certainly don't consider any of them MOR... Ahhh, fuck it. Who'm I kidding? I'm lazy! | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 989 Registered: 04-2005 |
Interesting discussion. Reading "serious, heavy" literature is a lot harder than listening to "serious, heavy" music, in my opinion. I admire people who voraciously read difficult books; I can't do it. I like to think I read intelligent stuff, but, for example, I'm not willing to make the effort to read James Joyce. Maybe it's my profession--book publishing--but I need something lighter that doesn't fry my eyeballs and brain when I'm reading for pleasure. At least I can close my eyes when listening to difficult music! | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 145 Registered: 08-2006 |
I gotta say, I'm still a sucker for the difficult stuff. There's nothing like the feeling you get at the end of something like "The Sound and the Fury" or "Ulysses" or "The Brothers Karamazov." The effort, I think, is part of the emotional uplift your receive at the finish line. This sounds stupid, but I really think it's similar to physical feats like mountain climbing or marathon running. Making an extra effort can make you invest yourself more fully in any endeavor, mental or physical. I like to read light literature, too, but I don't receive the same pay off from it. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 992 Registered: 04-2005 |
You are a better man than I, Rob! Me like books easy. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 108 Registered: 09-2006 |
I definitely hear you, Rob...finished "Gravity's Rainbow" for a second time not long ago and wouldn't trade the experience (and am actually looking forward to that new Pynchon). For me, though, the pleasures of quality lighter entertainment don't pale quite as much...they just reward different parts of my head/heart/soul (though there's definitely some overlap). | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 109 Registered: 09-2006 |
Hm, passed 100 without even noticing...believe me, it's going to take me years longer to get to 1000 than Keith. Prolific just ain't my middle name. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 995 Registered: 04-2005 |
Nobody can match LK, Kev, or Spence for prolific posting, but 109 in less than three months is pretty darn good, Allen. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 948 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kurt, no fair, you're just posting any old shit to get to 1000 before me! | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1000 Registered: 04-2005 |
Oops, that's 1000! You, sir, are correct. It doesn't help that I'm a little drunk now. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1209 Registered: 05-2005 |
Congrats Kurt, as founding member of The Thousandaires, welcome to the club. Sounds like you will need the US version of Irn Bru in the morning | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 110 Registered: 09-2006 |
What do you mean, Padraig? That compliment sounded 100% sincere to me, and something that cried out to be said... | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1001 Registered: 04-2005 |
Thank you, Kevin. I'm not proud of the way I did it, but it had to be done. In the morning, I'll be Googling to see if I can find out a place in Seattle that carries Irn Bru... | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 328 Registered: 07-2005 |
Also if the music is heavy challenging itis easier to switch off i.e .not engage or stop listening. Reading does require more interaction. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1045 Registered: 05-2005 |
Well done kurt! Am rading The Word, noce overview of Madness, where they are now type o thing, love that band. never has a bad word been said of Madness, never, I certainly hold the candle to em! | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1236 Registered: 03-2006 |
Congratulations, Kurt! Welcome to the rarified atmosphere of the Thousandaires Club. You will be receiving your membership materials shortly. Some of the great benefits coming your way will be: movies, concerts, a free upgrade to 1st class on Jet Blue, and a free 6" sandwich at Subway. You will also gain access to swanky VIP Thousandaire lounges at Internet cafes everywhere. And there's the great Thousandaire newsletter, featuring candid snaps of LK drunkenly attempting to break dance to "the Statue" while swilling two buck Chuck straight from the bottle, Kevin fondling his Fall collection and Spence playing with his valuable collection of Steve Austin dolls. This doesn't even include all the intangible benefits: tall, pretty blonde girls will throw themselves at you, strangers will buy you drinks, and small children will shower you with flowers and sweets. You are now a leader and a man among men & women! | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1002 Registered: 04-2005 |
I'm not sure how to make the emoticon for laughing uproariously, LK, so I'll have to settle for: Thanks all! Stay tuned for a return to more restrained posting from me. Well, after this one, that is. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1003 Registered: 04-2005 |
Oh, one more thing: is it true that becoming a member of the Thousandaires Club also results in personal card with a message, signed by Robert Forster? The message is: GET A LIFE! | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 112 Registered: 09-2006 |
Wait a minute, LK, I already have all that stuff...so what's my incentive? | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1049 Registered: 05-2005 |
LK man, you one funny guy dude! When's the situation comedy scrpit coming? I'm serious! | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1276 Registered: 03-2006 |
For Allen and Rob, who share an affinity for this kind of thing: have either of you ever read the Flashman novels, by George MacDonald Fraser? Sheer reading nirvana. I picked up the latest one (he's still cranking 'em out) and am getting the customary kick out of it...Harry Flashman is a hero only the most jaded and cynical fan (read LK) could love... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 173 Registered: 08-2006 |
Love the Flashman novels! It doesn't surprise me at all that you do, too. Haven't read the latest; I'd meant to grab it before I went to Paris back in September but I was already drowning in too much reading material. Thanks for reminding me to get it. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 115 Registered: 09-2006 |
The last one I read was the Civil War one with John Brown, but I've made my way through just about every one before that...I also read a non-fiction one he did comparing Hollywood historical films to the actual events they portrayed. Pretty interesting, though in the later chapters he starts grumping about how modern films have less-than-heroic figures at their forefront, a rather curious point of view given the books he's written. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1278 Registered: 03-2006 |
Can I call 'em or what? I have you guys' number! Of course, you have mine too! I remember being disappointed by the film of Royal Flash, with the (capable of being) brilliant Malcolm McDowell (I know, he's a whore now)...I get the feeling I'd probably enjoy it now, but I don't think it's even on DVD. Mr. Ambivalent-about-Hollywood Fraser also wrote the screenplays to two of my all-time favorite flicks - the sumptuous and definitive retellings of the Three and Four Musketeers... The last thing I read by him before this current Flashman I'm into was "Black Ajax", which was excellent as well... | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1078 Registered: 04-2005 |
Just finished Daniel Clowes's "Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron." I've been a big Clowes fan since I discovered "Ghost World" about six years ago, but I'd never seen a copy of "Velvet" in the stores until a couple of nights ago--I've read all his other books. My god, what a surreal, creepy story. Truly the best extended portrayal of a nightmare I've read. It's amazing how he can make a story that makes so little sense flow so seamlessly. Any other Clowes fans here? And when you don't know what to buy someone as a gift, give the gift of reading. I bought my literary-oriented mother Thomas Pynchon's new, massive novel. I'll let her be the tester before I attempt to read it. I've never read him, but I think it's time to try. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 234 Registered: 08-2006 |
LOVE Clowes, Kurt. I haven't read "Glove," though. I think he's some kind of storyteller. His stuff always has real emotion resonance. Good call on the Pynchon, although I dunno if that's where I'd start if I were you. Maybe with one of his classics, like "Gravity's Rainbow." I actually really enjoyed his last book, "Mason & Dixon," although it's a tough read. It's like going to the gym: you can't just feel like doing it, you have to commit to it. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1342 Registered: 03-2006 |
I'm reading "Next" by Michael Crichton. It's total light reading, sort of a techno-thriller, which he excels at. I remain steadfast in my lack of interest in serious literature. I'm only in to books that are a) either a lot of escapist fun, or b) non-fiction that contain useful info about things like Iraq. It's even better if they contain information that is specifically useful in my own life, for instance, how to get rich in the stock market, etc. I'm absolutely convinced the new Pynchon book is brilliant - it's just that I'm also convinced that, after reading it, all I'd be left with is an appreciation for his cleverness and impenetrability... | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 126 Registered: 09-2006 |
"Glove" is definitely where Clowes took a major artistic leap...I remember reading it issue by issue in "Eightball" and feeling that wonderful feeling of watching a great talent flower. The fish/potato girl and her eggs remains etched on my eyeballs. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 127 Registered: 09-2006 |
One of the (somewhat self-absorbed) joys of parenting is trying something I loved as a kid out on mine and watching them fall in love with it too: bedtime reading recently has been Beverly Cleary, creator of Henry Huggins, Beezus and especially Ramona. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 132 Registered: 09-2006 |
With Pynchon I think you might want to work your way up..."The Crying of Lot 49" is a great, concentrated dose of what he's about, then you could try "V.," then if those two do it for you, start scaling some of the bigger mountains... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 248 Registered: 08-2006 |
I read David Nichols' Go-Betweens bio during the holiday break. Very readable and, in some places, revelatory. My only problem with it is that, at times, he inserts unnecessary critical judgements I don't happen to agree with, in the "this-is-the-best, this-is-the-worst" vein. That aside, the book's well done. Lindy, in particular, emerges from David's profile as a great, vivacious personality. I love the GBs recent albums as well as any of their earlier output, but you realize what an interesting, dynamic entity the MK I group was. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1092 Registered: 04-2005 |
I'm reading a book that might be up Michael's alley: "Against Death and Time" by Brock Yates, which is about auto racing in the '50s, back when it was a blood sport that many participants didn't survive--and didn't expect to. It focuses on four specific incidents that shocked the world back in 1955: the deaths of Indy champ Bill Vukovich, F1 great Alberto Ascari, and James Dean, and the crash at LeMans that killed more than 88 people, mostly spectators. Fascinating book... | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1093 Registered: 04-2005 |
You know, Rob, I liked that David added critical assessment in his bio, because it showed that the book was being written by a fan, not just from the point of view of someone who was just a hack writer or shill for the artist. I've read a number of music bios where the writer never injected any personal critical take on the work, resorting instead to quoting others' reviews--and I find that a lot less satisfying. Also, because David is a musician himself as well as a writer/journalist, he understands what goes with the making of the music, record company dealings, etc., more than the average biographer, so to me, it makes his opinions more measured and credible. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 197 Registered: 04-2005 |
Finished Ian McEwan's 'Saturday', which deserved its high praise: a masterful storyteller. Then re-read 'The God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy. I can imagine being able to reread this book every few years, such is its 'richness'. Essentially a tragic tale (and the clues build from very early in the story), but so beautiful. The author takes the English language and kind of turns it on itself. I found a quote from her on the net: "Language is a very reflexive thing for me. I don't know the rules, so I don't know if I've broken them" And with the complex environment of India as a central character. Little observations become very important. I think that it remains her only novel, although she has written non-fiction since and has been politically active in her country, even going to prison for campaigning against dam building. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1386 Registered: 03-2006 |
"The Godfather's Revenge" by Mark Winegardner (sp?), a novelist they've hired to continue the series after Puzo died. Winegardner was already a pretty well-regarded novelist and his continuation of the story is actually very good. LK just can't get enough of the gangster stuff. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 264 Registered: 08-2006 |
Mark Winegardner went to my alma mater, Miami University in Ohio, and was the student of a friend of mine, a creative writing teacher at the school. He was considered something of a wunderkind when he was at Miami, from what I heard. LK, you'll have to supply a review. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1393 Registered: 03-2006 |
Actually Rob, I read the first one and thought it was pretty outstanding. And, I'm 100 pages or so into this one and I can attest that it's pretty wonderful. There's a whole section on gangsters in N.O. that I totally ate up with a spoon (fun to think about what real-life counterparts they're based on)...This one has gotten dissed a bit for focusing excessively on a side character, but hey, doesn't bother me -it's intrinsically interesting to me anyway... He has a book called "Crooked River Burning" (no doubt a reference to the Cuyahoga) that's sposed to be a contender for the Great American Novel, but I can't bring myself to read a book about Ohio, with all due respect to those that hail from there. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 273 Registered: 08-2006 |
Just got me a copy of Martin Amis's cheery gulag tome, "House of Meetings." But as I was walking out of Barnes & Noble, I was inexplicably possessed by the ghost of LK. So I picked up Carl Hiaasen's latest, too. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1420 Registered: 03-2006 |
I've been know to haunt bookstores, Meester Rob, so it could well have been some manifestation of my spirit. Though Borders is more my speed these days - better deals and less surly clerks, at least at the ones here. Good choices - I have the Hiaasen, but have not yet delved into it yet. Amis is pretty much my favorite writer - for me, the GoBees of literature - so I rushed out and bought House of Meetings yesterday. I'm 50 pages, or so, into it and it is just smashing. Apparently, Marty's fascination and preoccupation with the former Soviet Union and some of the less savory aspects attaching to it - the gulags, the famine, the executions, the general repression, etc. - is one that won't leave him alone. At least since his non-fiction book about Stalin, "Koba the Dread", which I recommend. Not so much his last fiction book, "Yellow Dog" though. I tried to like it, but hindsight, merciless as it can be, has forced me to conclude that it was a misfire. But yeah, I'm diggin' "House"...it amazes me that a book can be so funny, tragic and poetic - all at the same time. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 275 Registered: 08-2006 |
Wait, wait, wait. LK, a Martin Amis fan? You continually surprise me, sir. After all your protestations about your dislike of difficult fiction, I find this revelation a bit shocking. I think Amis is the definition of a difficult author, with all his literary slights of hand, and here you are singing his praises. I'm delighted, natch. But how do you square your earlier posts with this last one, Mr. I-Only-Like-Escapist-Fiction? You holding out on me? As far as the Hiaasen, I was never a fan until I interviewed him a few years back at his house in the Keys. A first-class guy - funny, smart and completely intolerant of fools. I enjoyed him a ton, and will be a reader as long as he decides to keep pumping out product. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1422 Registered: 03-2006 |
Yup Rob, I've read every word Amis has written. And several of his books, "Money", "London Fields", and "The Information", I've read several times. Though he has that rep, I guess the crux of the matter is the word "difficult". His stuff is so entertaining, so rich, so fun, so...right on, that it never occurs to me that it's difficult. I understand Amis, I see the point of what he's driving at. I would never feel virtuous after reading an Amis book - they're too much damn fun, too rewarding. Instead of feeling like a slog, his stuff just glides by. I consume them all too quickly... "Money", btw, is my favorite by him, and, in my view, has to be the funniest book ever written. Every word rings true and glows like burning coal. Hiaasen also happens to be a very righteous dude, politically speaking. Have you read any of his essays? They're great. And speaking of entertaining, his fiction is a total hoot. So fun it's almost sinful. I'm sure that, in real life, he's a great guy, quite the mensch. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1429 Registered: 03-2006 |
Rob, Smarty Anus is coming to your area, as well as mine. His book tour is coming to L.A., and Chicago, as well. Be there or be square: January 28, noon: Lookinglass Theater, 821 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 278 Registered: 08-2006 |
Really? Hey, that's cool. I gotta step on the gas and finish his book before then. Does Mr. Anus's reading require tickets? | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1431 Registered: 03-2006 |
No tickets - just a toy for one of Amis' tots. Seriously, I dunno, but I wouldn't think there'd be any kind of ticket required, certainly no cost. It ain't exactly the Lakers...But who knows? That's the thing about major metropolitan areas - you may think you're chasing something relatively obscure, but chances are, there're several thousand like-minded freaks who all have the same idea... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 280 Registered: 08-2006 |
I don't know how LA is, but folks in Chicago always confound my expectations. Shows I think will sell out don't, and I'm continually turned away from events I expect to be attending pretty much alone. I bet Marty gets a pretty decent crowd here, assuming it's been promoted. I gotta get onto this here Internet thingy and get info... | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1432 Registered: 03-2006 |
That's pretty much how it goes here too, Rob...So, I need to do some research, too. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some kind of free ticket involved, just to help them control the crowd. Unfortunately though, I'm not completely sure I'm going - the logistics of getting up to LA from OC at that time of day are a total pain - traffic, parking, etc...hopefully for you it just involves a taxi ride or a walk of a few blocks... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 281 Registered: 08-2006 |
Yeah, Chicago's relatively easy to navigate, thanks to El and our relatively compact geographical footprint. Shouldn't take me more than 20 minutes to get to the Lookingglass from here. The thought of an LA-OC commute makes me shudder... | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1437 Registered: 03-2006 |
I'm curious - what, pray tell, is the Lookingglass? Sounds like an interesting whats-it... That was one thing I really enjoyed about Chi-town on my few visits: the easy navigability... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 282 Registered: 08-2006 |
Lookingglass, interestingly, is the theater company founded by David Schwimmer (sp?), pre-"Friends." If he didn't help found it, he was certainly a member of the roster before his TV stardom. They recently took up new space in the pumping station across from the famous Chicago water tower. Looks like Amis is there next Sunday afternoon. No Bears game that day even if they beat the Saints, so perhaps I'll try to go. Oh, yeah, are you a Saints fan, LK? | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1439 Registered: 03-2006 |
I actually know where that is. Been disappointed too many times by the Saints, so I just kinda got over them. In fact, the common name for them back in the day was the Ain'ts... So, I dunno what to think now. That'd be so cool if they pulled it off, went all the way, etc., but I've been burned too many times to get my hopes up. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1445 Registered: 03-2006 |
Yo Rob - are you pissing your pants yet? It looks like Chi-town is going to prevail over the Crescent City...You see the wisdom of my not getting my hopes up re: the Saints... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1129 Registered: 05-2005 |
Saints? 'Aints? I thought for a moment you were talking about Ed Kuepper. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1446 Registered: 03-2006 |
Nope. Nothing that exciting or interesting... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 286 Registered: 08-2006 |
Well, LK, I gotta say that although I'm glad the Bears are Stupid Bowl bound, there's little joy in beating N.O. Basically, I'm glad the Bears won, and sorry the Saints lost. It was a game there briefly, and I wish the final score had been a bit closer. If there's a city that could have used a bit of joy, it's NOLA. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1448 Registered: 03-2006 |
Well put, Rob. Though I appreciate the sentiment, I guess I've grown cynical. Symbolic victories can be imporant and can instill morale, but there's too much of a tendency for nothing to change afterwards...If N.O. won the Superbowl, there'd be great revelry, the whole city would get drunk for days, tourists would drop zillions of dollars, but after all the excitement died down, the 9th Ward would still look like a war zone... Good for Chicago - this will, btw, be a historic Superbowl. 1st time both coaches have been African-Americans. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1449 Registered: 03-2006 |
PS - did you finish House of Meetings, Rob? I did over the weekend. Staggeringly great. Might be his best. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 288 Registered: 08-2006 |
I'm STILL not done with it, LK, but I'm loving it. I was out a lot this weekend, but I'm hoping for some serious reading time this week. I'm kind of savoring it for now, and, given your assessment, maybe that's for the best. And you're right about the Saints. A Superbowl victory is great for bar business, but - as the song goes - it won't pay the rent on your humble flat. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1450 Registered: 03-2006 |
I should warn you, too, mega depressing, but also completely satisfying, ending. And the impact of that damn letter he's been carrying around with him, when he can finally bring himself to read it, is crushing. Also, are you referencing the T-Bone Burnett version of said song? One of most favoritest tracks ever, by anybody. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 164 Registered: 09-2006 |
An old, old favorite: "Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head" by B. Kliban. Can anything touch the sublime poetry of "Dirty scaly chicken toes/Harry puts them up his nose," or the forbidden ecstasies of "A Meter Violation?" Makes me want to get out my old Edward Gorey books. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 289 Registered: 08-2006 |
You, my friend, are a mind reader. I heard it this weekend - for the first time in years - driving around doing errands. I can't believe you sussed that! It's a great, great version. I love it when he says, "let's rock," and then doesn't. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 165 Registered: 09-2006 |
You lucky person, having a radio station in your town that would play that...I went on a little Alpha Band kick not long ago, myself. One of those artists that even when he gets a little full of himself (which occurs periodically) it doesn't matter as much because his talent and good humor balance it out. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1451 Registered: 03-2006 |
Hey, maybe he doesn't rock out in a Motley Crue kind of way, but it's still a form of rockin' valid in some universe. Possibly, only mine. That song, btw, was meant to be part of an album of covers of classic standards, redone as rock songs, a la "Diamonds". Shame that never happened. Allen's right - that sounds like a very cool radio station. T-Bone, in my eyes (and ears), can do no wrong. My single favorite thing by him is the Trap Door EP. Which, to the best of my knowledge, has never been released on CD. I was delighted when some of the best cuts from it ended up on Mr. Burnett's recent 20/20 anthology. Highly recommended if you dig the T-Bone. Though some have found him to be too preachy at times, that's never really bothered me. The stuff he attacks needs attackin'. Maybe I'm a closet Christian. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 290 Registered: 08-2006 |
I love T-Bone, and I do feel lucky to hear him on my local radio station. I'm not a huge WXRT supporter - they were better back in the day - but every now and again they pull out a winner. Trap Door is excellent, LK, one of those things that should be released on CD. I haven't owned it in years, and really should pick up 20/20. Not too preachy for me, and let's just say I'm not of the church-goin' persuasion. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 166 Registered: 09-2006 |
It'd be nice if they'd tack it onto the "Truth Decay" CD, or probably better still, combine it with that "Beyond the Trap Door" EP. This was a book thread, wasn't it? | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 217 Registered: 09-2006 |
"The Adventures of Augie March" by Saul Bellow. The tale of a boy growing up lower class in Chicago during the first part of the 20th century, by one of the best writers ever to thump down the pike. Beautifully detailed, highly readable. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 400 Registered: 08-2006 |
Great book, Allen. It's required reading here in the Windy City. I had the good fortune to meet the Great Bellow here in town several years back. I've interviewed a bunch of authors in my time, but I don't think I've ever talked to one who radiated intelligence like Saul Bellow did. No kidding, it blew off him like a stiff breeze. But at the same time, he was entirely and genuinely gracious. A really fond memory, that is. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1606 Registered: 03-2006 |
Obviously, both of youse already know about the intense relationship between Amis and Bellow. It was pretty much on a father-son level...and, it apparently really hit young Marty hard when Bellow passed away. I DO need to read that - I think the only Bellow I've read is later perid stuff, like "Herzog", which was predictably great. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 401 Registered: 08-2006 |
I actually like what I believe was his last novel, "Ravelstein," a fictional portrait of Allan Bloom. I recall it didn't get great reviews when it came out but I thought it was a terrific coda to Bellow's career. I recommend it. And, LK, that latest Amis book haunts me. I really do think it might be his best. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1609 Registered: 03-2006 |
Know what you mean, Rob. That book left me profoundly shaken. I felt like I needed my wubbie and a big bottle of Scotch after reading it...Surely as tragic as anything in literature, ever, including Shakespeare. The protagonist's betrayal of everything he loved (mainly his bro) could not have been more profound and complete, could it have? | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1408 Registered: 05-2005 |
A Drink With Shane McGowan. Have read the first 100 pages or so, he tells the story of his childhood in Ireland. Allegedly drinking 2 bottles of Guinness a day at the age of 5!! | ||
| Michelle M Member Username: Michelle Post Number: 29 Registered: 09-2004 |
I must read that biography Kevin. I do love an autobiography. I finally read "Running with Scissors" by Augusten Burroughs. At times I felt like I needed to find a pair of scissors myself with a view to bodily harm. But fortunately Augusten and I managed to complete the book without too much harm (well on my part anyway). Now I am tackling "Underground" by Andrew Mc Gahan (Austn author). I am a bit concerned about the theme. Quote: "Think ahead five or so years from now, to an Australia transformed by the never-ending war on terror..." I am only up to page 9 and I want to trust in my belief that Andrew is an excellent writer and he will confirm my high view of him. Also I am reading my blog. Someone has to and, anyway, I make me laugh. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 219 Registered: 09-2006 |
That interview does sound like a wonderful experience, Rob...both qualities you describe come through so very strongly in his work. His compassion for each character, the way he can limn both their faults and their saving graces (even the characters that lean much further toward the faulty side of the spectrum) with such acceptance and affection is a rare thing. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 406 Registered: 08-2006 |
Well said, Allen. I remember someone saying they thought "Ravelstein" was a hatchet job on Allan Bloom; I felt just the opposite. I'd love it if someone rendered me as such a complex, contrary, 3-D person, and did it with such obvious affection. In fact, the story goes that Bloom ASKED Bellow to do a warts-and-all profile. He could scarcely have asked for better. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1614 Registered: 03-2006 |
Michelle, is your blog for public consumption? I'd read it - you seem like a thoughtful person who probably has some interesting stuff to say... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1028 Registered: 03-2005 |
Just for you, LK. 2019583%2C00.html,http://books.guardian. co.uk/comment/story/0,,2019583,00.html | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 411 Registered: 08-2006 |
I couldn't get that link to work, Randy. Tried to post it myself and it came up the same way your post did. Just go to "Books," though, and it's easy to find, LK. Very entertaining. One of my favorite things about the UK is how at least some of the population still care so deeply for books and the people who write them. I can't imagine a similar row breaking out here in the US, even if James Patterson was named "Greatest Living Author" by the New York Review of Books. Now, start choosing among "American Idol" finalists and you might spark a fight. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1622 Registered: 03-2006 |
Thanks, Rob. I was just about to piss and moan that it didn't work...This self-sufficiency thing, I really should try it someday... and thanks, Randy...I gather it must be about my favorite writer next to Mickey Spillane, the youthful and vivacious Smarty Anus. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1625 Registered: 03-2006 |
That was excellent, Randy and Rob. Thanks. I'm not sure they should've stopped that woman from killing herself, though. Silly goose. The bit about MA "looking down the barrel of the canon" reminds me of the GoBees. They, too, in their own way, looked down the barrel, too. They were notably unafraid of looking pretentious and were all about the quest to make great art. Though, I guess that's where the similarity ends. The GBs work gives me a wistful, warm and fuzzy feeling, while the last MA novel left me feeling like I needed a wheelchair and a nurse... | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 491 Registered: 01-2005 |
I've been reading a lot of inspirational/self help books the past two months that have really helped in turning my life around. I know I have posted about my new outlook on life before, but it's been such an incredible burst of energy and happiness that has been a part of my turnaround that has me feeling like a teenager again. Although my teenage years were pretty painful for me. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1630 Registered: 03-2006 |
Any of those books you'd particularly recommend, Michael? I could always use a lift - that last Martin Amis book left me feeling poleaxed for days... I read a lot of self-help books, though many are of the how to get rich quick variety, or how to lose weight or speak Spanish in 10 easy lessons...I consume a lot of cookbooks and wine books, too... I think self-improvement is great. We work on everything else in life, but tend to ignore that - the most important thing. Congratulations on your success in that area... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1032 Registered: 03-2005 |
Hardin, I recommend Andrew Loog Oldham's two autobiographies, but particularly the first volume "Stoned" in which he recounts a few seasons during his teenage years swindling tourists on the Cote D'Azur. Cheers me right up! Michael, you are in the midst of a very intense winter. I figure that is the time that is most challenging emotionally for anyone. But I did learn quite a while ago that it takes actual effort to maintain some degree of mental health after a certain 40-ish age. My vehicle is song-writing. If I do something that I actually like, then it really gives me a lift and makes me feel like I have value. So I'm a big fan of people starting--at any age--to try whatever things they've always wanted to do but thought they couldn't. It is essential, of course, that you give yourself permission not to be instantly great at whatever it is that you try. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 231 Registered: 09-2006 |
More cheers from this corner, Michael...I've been doing something in a similar vein myself over the past few months. For years I've done meditation, but in a haphazard, incomplete fashion...I did it mostly while walking (I like epic, miles-long walks) and during other daily activities like doing the dishes, and it was quite effective in small ways...helping to center me, to work through bad feelings on a subconscious level, deal with self-esteem, like that. But I'm still the owner of an overly busy mind, the kind that keeps a running commentary going on everything, so lately I've been doing a sitting meditation a couple of times a day, with a little more discipline to it, and in just that short time the results have been amazing. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, as we all have our own paths to that happiness/nirvana/perfect parking spot we're looking for, but it's worked for me... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1249 Registered: 05-2005 |
Today I bought a book called Foul! The Secret World Of FIFA: Bribes, Vote Rigging and Ticket Scandals. Apart from being a long ass title the bit I've read so far looks very intersting. I love football so much and anyone exposing the not-so-beautiful people who run the beautiful game is OK with me. Also today a book I ordered arrived in the post. It's called This Is Your Brain on Music, The Science of a Human Obsession. It's a scientific study int why most people like music and some people (ie us) adore it above most anything else. It's not some dry thesis; it was written by a guy called Daniel J Levitin who worked as a session musician, producer and engineer before becoming a neuroscientist at McGill University in Canada. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1643 Registered: 03-2006 |
Let us know if it gives any good tips for getting off the train, Padraig, for ridding oneself of the obsession. It could save one a lot of money. When all is said and done fishing or collecting tea cozies would be a lot cheaper! | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 424 Registered: 08-2006 |
LK, as a fisherman, I DO NOT recommend it as a means to budgetary restraint. Go for the tea cozies! | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1645 Registered: 03-2006 |
You have all the fancy lures and reels? I guess it do add up... Actually, I already have an expensive new hobby picked out. Now, all I need's an extra coupla thousand bucks. Have you ever seen kitesurfing? That's what I wanna try. It looks like more fun than humans should be allowed to have... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 428 Registered: 08-2006 |
Hey, LK: Did you ever start/finish the Hiaasen book? It was pretty good. Perhaps not his best, but the environmental baddies and sexual deviants got theirs, which is nice, 'cause it seems like it happens so rarely these days, at least in real life. I wish Cheney would end up a character in a Hiaasen novel. I can only imagine the fate that would befall him. Also: "Suite Francaise" by Irene Nemirovsky, a contemporaneous fictionalization of the Nazi occupation of France. Supposed to be a multi-volume work, Nemirovsky got sent to the camps before she could finish it. It's remarkably affecting, and it's amazing it's only been published recently. Allen, you're a France resident, oui? Have you read it? | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 246 Registered: 09-2006 |
Only during my years in the Resistance, Rob. I think you might have me confused with someone else, as the closest to France I've ever been is Canada. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1648 Registered: 03-2006 |
Never got around to it, Rob. I've been on a definite non-reading jag, lately and unfortunately. What little reading I've been doing has been on global warming, believe it or not, in order to debate some pinheaded people on the subject. It's unbelievable to me, but some people still think it's a big hoax...oh, the humanity... I have kept my sights on reading though - I even bought that huge ass book, "Sacred Games", that's supposed to be like an Indian Godfather. And I got a cool book I'd ordered today: "Bonfire of Road Maps" by Joe Ely. Have you heard of it? It's the singer's road journals, and they have a very cool, beat, distinctly Kerouacian tone, based on the little bit I read. I also got his new album, called "Happy Songs From Rattlesnake Gulch" and will proffer a review if you have any interest in him... I don't think I'm up for "Suite Francaise", as it sounds like it would be depressing, given the background of it, but I was still intrigued. Tell us more - was it a bummer, a mellow harsher? | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 430 Registered: 08-2006 |
Hmm, apologies, Allen. Dunno why I thought that. Oh, wait, you're the guy who works as a sherpa in Nepal, right? Where is my head? LK, I actually didn't find "Suite Francaise" depressing. Maybe my depress-o-meter is set higher than most people's, and maybe it's because it records the early days of the occupation, but it's kind of day-in-the-life look at the days leading up to occupation and the early occupation itself. Maybe because of the time it was written - and because the full scope of the atrocities happening weren't widely known - it's more of a life-during-wartime tale, without the weight of foreshadowing you get in WW II novels written after the fact. An interesting artifact. I love Joe Ely, by the way, and would be interested what you think of the book/album. I think his records can be very uneven, but I think he has it in him to a great one every time out of he's feeling it. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 431 Registered: 08-2006 |
Make that "if he's feeling it." C'mon caffeine, do your stuff! | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 432 Registered: 08-2006 |
Here's a nice review of that Ely CD, LK: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/revie ws/11638/joe-ely-happy-songs-from-rattle snake-gulch/ | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 248 Registered: 09-2006 |
Yeah, Rob, and as a sherpa we have the fringe benefit of being plugged into the Universal Mind. Among other things that means we not only have immediate access to any album every made, but we also hear them in various stages of completion. For instance, did you know that originally Joanna Newsom was going to sing her last album entirely in pig latin? | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 433 Registered: 08-2006 |
Wait, you mean Ys WASN'T sung in pig latin? So, Allen, as long as you're all plugged in and everything (and not in France), can you conjure a release date for the next RF recording? And "sometime in your lifetime" is not an acceptable answer. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1650 Registered: 03-2006 |
No, Joanna just has some interesting views on pronunciation. Why am I not surprised you know of, and dig, Joe? You and Allen, next to Kurt, have the most simular tastes to mine of all the folks on the board. (Padraig seems to like a lot of the same kinda stuff I do, too.) I do part ways with Kurt on his on his inexplicable Celine Dion obsession. I know she has a "great instrument", man, but I just don't get that one... Haven't listened to the new Joe disc yet, but I can pretty unequivocally recommend the book, given what I know about your tastes and background. Having said that, "trust but verify" - give it a look-see at your bookstore. Ultimately though, I think you'll find it completely your kind of thing. Btw, I'm sure you know this, but fans of the Clash that saw them back in the day, might've seen him as the opening act. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1269 Registered: 04-2005 |
Good memory. I know of Joe Ely mainly because of the Clash, honestly. I saw him open for them once ('79 at a weird outdoor festival in Monterey) and then he joined them onstage for one of the encores--they may have played "I Fought the Law." In those days, I wasn't very open-minded about "country" music (could he even be classified as that?) so I didn't check him out further. You always diss Celine, LK, but I think you need to listen to that album she made with Einsturzende Neubauten, which was very uncompromising. And she did shoot smack in Berlin with Nick Cave for awhile in the '80s, as everyone remembers. If that's not enough, who can deny that she's incredible easy on the eyes, what with that Olive Oyl figure of hers. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1651 Registered: 03-2006 |
I bow, as always, Kurt, to your mighty rhetorical muscle and peerless musical knowledge. That album she did with EN was the bomb - I forgot about that one. And truly, she was heroin chic before it was cool. I had a pal in La., whose name was Bill (I get a strange charge out of using real names of friends), who was crazier than a shithouse rat and had no morals, whatsoever. His Dad was a judge, so he believed he could get away with anything, and pretty much did. One of his favorite, amusing tricks was to fart loudly, with a straight face,in public places, like say an elegant restaurant. But anyways, he went to see Joe sometime in the 70's and scored a place right by the stage. He happened to see, on stage, a big stash of signed albums, posters, set lists, etc., and thought, what the hell?, I'm stealing these. So then, a coupla hours later he's proudly showing this stash to a guy he met in the bar, who happened to be Joe's road manager. He was truly lucky not to have gotten his ass severely kicked. But tying it back to our original theme, he also met Mr. Ely later that night, and asked him how he enjoyed playing with the Clash. Joe apparently hated it, due to their crazy, druggie ways, and allowed as how that tour didn't end a moment too soon. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1270 Registered: 04-2005 |
That's a great story, LK. And "crazier than a shithouse rat" is a phrase I need to use more often. I'm doing employee reviews at work this week...hmmm. So, Ely was fakin' it onstage with the Clash, was he? I feel betrayed. But I'm not surprised--they were pretty out of control in those days. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 250 Registered: 09-2006 |
The last Ely album I payed a mind to was "Love and Danger," but I think he's done more than enough great stuff to get himself into heaven when the time comes. His first two are probably my favorites. Oh, and Rob, all I'm getting from RF's frequency s some obscene fantasies involving Joanna Newsom and a large bear. Oh, and the repeated words "Future cloudy. Ask again later." He does have a real way of avoiding a question he doesn't want to answer. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 251 Registered: 09-2006 |
No, wait, the Newsom fantasies were mine...it kinda gets all mixed up in there sometimes. OK, I'm going to stop...that new album's made her into too much of a fish-in-a-barrel target. And, hey, I liked "Milk-Eyed Mender." | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1654 Registered: 03-2006 |
"Love and Danger" was a great one, A. I also loved "Letter to Laredo", with the great, epic song about the fighting rooster, "Gallo del Cielo"... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1253 Registered: 05-2005 |
A drawing my daughter just did for me with "I love mi dad" written on top. (Sorry to be all gooey here lads!). Think that means it's time to get off the computer. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 443 Registered: 08-2006 |
I think that says it all, Padraig. No Nobel laureate will ever do better. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1433 Registered: 05-2005 |
Padraig, I know how you feel. I didnt see much of my daughter last week due to anti social work hours so she left a note on the bathroom mirror which said "love you loads" the next day, she had scribbled at the bottom of it "youre supposed to write something here!!" | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1254 Registered: 05-2005 |
I hope you wrote something back Kevin! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1046 Registered: 03-2005 |
Nah, Kevin's teaching her a valuable life lesson about the narcissism of the male. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 274 Registered: 09-2006 |
"Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation" by Jeff Chang. Complex but very readable...damn thorough, too - he spends the first 70 pages setting the scene, with excellent histories of the South Bronx (from 1953, when the Cross-Bronx Expressway turned the place into a wasteland, through the brutal gang wars of the 60s and 70s) and Jamaica (the rise of reggae/dub up through the arrival in America of DJ Kool Herc, the man who built the musical bridge). | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1680 Registered: 03-2006 |
Heyday - Kurt Andersen... A very colorful and almost picaresque historical novel about an English aristocrat who sets out to make his bones in mid-nineteenth century New York... Words fail me when trying to describe how entertaining it is...also, I think this one will have a lot more enduring readability and meaning than Andersen's last great, but incredibly time-stamped book, "Turn of the Century". | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 458 Registered: 08-2006 |
Okay, LK, you're busted. I read the review of "Heyday" in this morning's New York Times and I officially out you as at least a somewhat serious reader. All these protestations about "I don't have time to read" and "I only read crap" and then you admit your favorite author is Martin Freakin' Amis! And now you're reading a rather weighty historical tome! Oh no, my friend, I'll not be buying your prevarications any longer... | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 237 Registered: 04-2005 |
"Million Dollar Movie" by Michael Powell. The second volume of autobiography by half of 'The Archers' partnership (along with Emeric Pressburger). At times a little rambling, but still full of passion for the art of cinema. The title came from the TV program that enabled Scorcese to discover their films as a child and he was one of a handful that kept their name alive when their films were viewed as deeply unfashionable. Bertrand Tavernier in France was another, interviewing Powell for an influential article. I had the pleasure of seeing Powell speaking when the first volume was released, at a showing of a restored 'Gone To Earth' and for the second volume (issued after his death) his last wife Thelma Schoonmaker was present in the cinema for 'A Matter of Life and Death'. It was a revelation to see the films on a large screen. AMOLAD still astounds me with its intelligence, wit and almost arrogance. And Thelma Schoonmaker is still Scorcese's film editor, right up to 'The Departed'... | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 281 Registered: 09-2006 |
Lucky feller...the Seattle Art Museum had a Powell/Pressburger retrospective last year, the very week I was out of town, so I missed that bigscreen chance. My favorite is "I Know Where I'm Going"...also love "Black Narcissus" and "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp." | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1681 Registered: 03-2006 |
Rob, I hate to spoil your fun at catching me out, but I assure you that, when it comes to reading, I'm still the wallower in trash. If books were food, my diet would consist of the occassional filet mignon in a mountain of Big Macs...I think the last major things I read before this were the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and the Us magazine with the cover story about Britney and whether her career and hair will grow back... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 460 Registered: 08-2006 |
Your protestations henceforth fall on deaf ears, LK. However, I would like to know what you think of "Heyday" after you finish it. From your description - and the Times's front-cover review - it sounds pretty remarkable. Maybe I'll put it next on my list. My dad - perhaps an Olympic-caliber reader - gave me a massive tome called "Tree" (and yes, that's what it's about) that I'm trying to plow through now. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1684 Registered: 03-2006 |
Ah - if I could only post a picture of my bookshelf...the pulp fiction, Mexican cookbooks, self-help tomes and Harlequin romances would disabuse you of the notion of me as a serious reader... "Tree"? That sounds like a real page-turner! It sounds like an Onion parody of serious lit... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 462 Registered: 08-2006 |
It's actually a non-fiction book, so I won't even enjoy the benefit of a surprise ending. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 283 Registered: 09-2006 |
Oh, but I believe you LK, honestly...wanted to get your thoughts on "The Secret"...after reading this superneat review I think it might be for me: thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=1705 46 Also, a rhetorical question based on your supermarket reading: if your mother had full frontal photos of her vagina taken while she was riding in a car with Paris Hilton and then "accidentally" leaked them to the internet, at what age would you first attempt to run away from home? | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 284 Registered: 09-2006 |
Sorry, if you're following that link you should close the gap between the 5 and the 4 | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1686 Registered: 03-2006 |
Actually Allen, believe it or not, I kinda like Oprah - don't really have anything against her. Though she's quite easy to bash, she's done a lot of good in the world - certainly more than her detractors. So, I'd be much more likely to take her word on something than some fascistic little bookstore dweeb. God, I hate those people enough already and feel like I get enough of the stinkeye from them already. Hey, "Adventures of a Victorian Dominatrix" may not be their idea of literature, but it could be mine! Funny piece, but the guy really lost me with the whole sanctimonious "wanting material things is bad" thing. I've been poor, and well, poorer, and have to say, less poor is good. Plus, I think the more you have the more you can help other people, those starving children in Somalia, etc. So, contrarian that I am, I may have to check out the Secret, since it's gotten up so many people's noses. Hey, if nothing else it'll piss off my local bookstore creep. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1059 Registered: 03-2005 |
Rob, there's still room for surprise; maybe they cut it down. Is "Tree" written by the same guy who wrote "Salt?" I'm afraid I keep my reading light. I'm threading my way through a 28 year old book called "Historic Homes of Brisbane" (I figure they're mostly gone now) and I've just gotten a new issue of Automobile Quarterly and, when I'm feeling masochistic I read the current issue of Mother Jones. No idea when I'll feel like reading fiction again. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 285 Registered: 09-2006 |
I wouldn't say wanting material things is bad, of course not, but the American obsession with wanting more and more material things and the immensely high importance one that are placed on those things in society is fairly dismaying. Like that bible verse that keeps getting conveniently forgotten when those things get slung around - it's not money that's the root of all evil, it's the love of money. I thought the review had more cheap laughs than anything, but this one goes more into why the Secret's no big secret at all. blog.360.yahoo.com/blog.DtkCN9OwabKSym4Y ulSJ7qUpKgt7 And yes, I'm very biased, as it's written by my (longdistance for now) girlfriend. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 286 Registered: 09-2006 |
I also like your description of the bookstore creep...reminds me of a favorite line from some comedian whose name I've forgotten: "Why do people who work in record stores act like THEY'RE rock stars?" | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1688 Registered: 03-2006 |
Rats - can't get that link to work. I tried... I agree with your stance, Allen. It's not the stuff per se, but the value people place on it that gets sick. Particularly here in So Cal, where it becomes kind of a place marker for "where you are in life", a way of keeping score. "Look, I own Baltic Ave., therefore I'm more significant than you"... | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1690 Registered: 03-2006 |
Rob, you picqued my curiosity, so I looked up "Tree" on Amazon. In its "you might be interested in this, too" style, it brought up a link for this book, too, called "Wood": http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0670038016/ ref=s9_asin_title_3/102-3255525-5434560 So, if you're not sated after Tree, and need a sequel of sorts, that could be an option... | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 289 Registered: 09-2006 |
Agreed...I just spent the evening rewatching "Long Good Friday." The only things I could remotely find wrong with it was the score was a little dated in places. Oh, and the little speech he has at the end, telling off the Yanks for being chickenshits is a little forced, but it's forgiven because it gives Bob Hoskins the chance to utter the line "Shut up, you long stream of paralyzed piss!" What the movie reminded me (and how it applies to what we're discussing) is how one of the central themes of just about every gangster film ever made (especially the Sopranos) is that of "Look at me, I can have anything I want and I've got the big house in the country with all the stuff in it and if anyone gets in my way I can have them exterminated. And I'm happy now...no fuck you, I'M HAPPY!" | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1296 Registered: 05-2005 |
I'm very envious of you all having the time to read so much. I really am. I used to read so many books and now I just don't have the time. I blame fatherhood; but gainful employment has more to do with it according to my ex. I do have nine papers a week home delivered though (Sydney Morning Herald on Mon-Sat, The Australian on Sat and The Sun Herald and Sunday Telegraph on Sunday). And I read a lot of music magazines and some the occasional news and football mag. But with books I unfortunately buy more than I read (hey, just like with CDs!). | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1297 Registered: 05-2005 |
Nice observation on gangster films by the way Allen. Have you ever seen White Heat (1949)? It's a brilliant gangster film starring Jimmy Cagney. If you haven't seen it get it. Watch out for the "Top of the World, Ma!" line. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 463 Registered: 08-2006 |
Ha, "Wood" following "Tree"! Classic. It's like recommending a book on end-of-life issues to someone who orders a manual on child care. Ah, Amazon... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 464 Registered: 08-2006 |
BTW, LK, thought you'd like to know I'm immersed in the chapter titled "From Oaks to Mangoes." If that doesn't start your imagination a-racin', well, I don't know what would. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1694 Registered: 03-2006 |
Sounds positively scintillating. Don't know how you can pull yourself away from it... | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 292 Registered: 09-2006 |
I was thinking that "Tree" might be an ecological horror novel with a shocker of an ending. You make it through 3,000 pages and the final sentence reads: "You know that tree you've spent all this time reading about? You're holding it in your hands right now!" Padraig, I definitely agree that "White Heat"'s a great one...Cagney managed to pull off the feat of playing a walking id but with shadings and layers to him. |