| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10122 Registered: 05-2005 |
An LA Times article on the right wing, conspiracy theory nut job Van Morrison has become, or maybe always was. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-ar ts/music/story/2021-05-10/van-morrison-l atest-record-project-antisemitism-corona virus | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10123 Registered: 05-2005 |
Peter Bagge's Neat Stuff anthology. A trip down memory lane. Some of the bits I found funny thirtysomething years ago are no longer so funny, some are just as funny as they ever were and one strip in particular is very moving. I think when I first saw it in the 80s I would have been too young to properly understand it. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1939 Registered: 10-2006 |
Philip Hensher – The Empire Waltz Hensher has become something of a go-to writer for me in terms of knowing that, wherever the book is set, and whoever it’s about, it’s going to be an entertaining ride. Here he ranges from the Weimar Republic and Bauhaus to gay 70s and 80s London to (briefly) North Africa in the second century, without ever losing you along the way. He manages to handle a huge cast of characters, including Klee and Kandinsky here, without seeming to skimp on any of them, packing in detail to just the right extent, and everything laced with wit and intelligence. Other books of his have tackled the Victorian Afghan Wars, a Bangladesh childhood, and multi-ethnic relationships in Sheffield, and have all been great reads. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4624 Registered: 03-2005 |
Whereas I've been reading an old American WASP-y warhorse, "The Education of Henry Adams." I approached this with some trepidation, wondering whether I'd be able to get through the mid-19th century mannerism and New England stuffiness. Not unlike another Henry--Mr. James--the reader must adjust to an elliptical writing style. But this book is an memoir of a period in our history that may have more relevance today than expected. I am currently about a third of the way in, with Mr. Adams serving as his father's private secretary representing the interests of the Union states in London during our Civil War. A significant number of high ranking Brits--Gladstone in particular--saw the war as an opportunity to defang the noisome upstart nation in North America. Adams' comparisons of his contemporaneous understanding of the motives of the primary players with later-revealed internal correspondence by those same individuals are interesting. Still, I look forward to a bit of lighter reading ahead. So I've ordered a copy of "Shuggie Bain" so that I can romp through the happy childhood of the son of an abused alcoholic, a copy of "The Yearling" so I can bask in the grief of putting down a much loved semi-domestic pet and a copy of "Their Eyes Were Watching God" so that I can swim in the soothing waters of a strong-willed early 20th century African American woman's kicks against the pricks. I can hardly wait. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10130 Registered: 05-2005 |
Stuart Neville’s latest book, and his first short story collection, The Traveller and Other Stories. |