ringo
Macaroni cheese controller
I read Gimpel The Fool last year. Good mixture of folk story and magical mysticism, like reading an old fairy story or legend.
eta: author is Isaac Bashevis Singer, not obvious what I'm on about from the quote.
*What book are you reading? (part 2)
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I read Gimpel The Fool last year. Good mixture of folk story and magical mysticism, like reading an old fairy story or legend.
eta: author is Isaac Bashevis Singer, not obvious what I'm on about from the quote.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Just finished "Future Days - Krautrock & The Building of Modern Germany" by David Stubbs. Very good, if a little bit light on the political analysis of what drove the music.
Also recently finished "Megachange - The World in 2050", a set of predictions by writers for The Economist. It's the usual stuff you expect from the 'con - pro-neoliberal wishful economic thinking alongside proposed "social engineering".
Also recently finished "Megachange - The World in 2050", a set of predictions by writers for The Economist. It's the usual stuff you expect from the 'con - pro-neoliberal wishful economic thinking alongside proposed "social engineering".
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
I am listening to Future Days right at this very moment
The book is on my 'to buy/read' list
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
I am listening to Future Days right at this very moment
I liked it a lot, and having a pop at the political analysis might be a bit rough on my part, as he packs a hell of a lot of post-war social history in alongside the musical description and analysis.
I will admit to reading it while listening to a selection of kosmiche classics.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
The Bone Clocks
great so far
great so far
Fucking bored with the Frida Kahlo autobiog now. Swear it's 50% fucking Diego Rivera anyway 
Temporarily sacked it off. Am reviewing a poetry book for Burning Eye publications, by Salena Godden. It's called 'Fishing in the Aftermath' and it is fucking AMAZING. Wow. I can't believe she's never been published before, but Burning Eye only publish performance poetry, so it's kind of a niche market. Can totally recommend it.
Also reading a book of short stories by Julian Barnes, called Pulse. Interesting in parts, and I do like his writing style, but the 'first world problems/middle class smugness' is getting on my wick a bit, have to say.
Temporarily sacked it off. Am reviewing a poetry book for Burning Eye publications, by Salena Godden. It's called 'Fishing in the Aftermath' and it is fucking AMAZING. Wow. I can't believe she's never been published before, but Burning Eye only publish performance poetry, so it's kind of a niche market. Can totally recommend it.
Also reading a book of short stories by Julian Barnes, called Pulse. Interesting in parts, and I do like his writing style, but the 'first world problems/middle class smugness' is getting on my wick a bit, have to say.
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
Blood Meridian. Language as if it were touched by grace.
Orang Utan
They cannot crucify you if your hand is in a fist
If you respect the language, then please respect the creator - Cormac McCarthy. He wrote it!
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
Still reading the epic "Great North Road" by Peter F. Hamilton and a book about Football in Japan.
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
What is the book about Football in Japan?
ringo
Macaroni cheese controller
An American Dream - Norman Mailer.
Never read anything by him before. Christ. Great writing, but it's like a handbook for training men to be cunts. In the first 30 pages the main character's war hero genius credentials are established before he gets drunk, strangles his wife, buggers her maid (who says no, but he knows she means yes) and throws the body off a balcony.
Never read anything by him before. Christ. Great writing, but it's like a handbook for training men to be cunts. In the first 30 pages the main character's war hero genius credentials are established before he gets drunk, strangles his wife, buggers her maid (who says no, but he knows she means yes) and throws the body off a balcony.
Thanks for the tip. About three quarters through Thousand Autumns now, and what a bloody good read it is!
Orang Utan
They cannot crucify you if your hand is in a fist
I finished The Bone Clocks - some bits work better than others but it's such a fun read.
weltweit
Well-Known Member
Closing Time, Joseph Heller
I found the first half hard going, a little disjointed, I did enjoy the writing style but after reading some easy reading thrillers last I found Heller's writing difficult to plough through, sometimes only making a couple of pages per session, mind you there were 464 pages of close densely packed small font type - difficult for my eyes to focus on, still nice to get an idea of what happens to Heller's characters post war.
I found the first half hard going, a little disjointed, I did enjoy the writing style but after reading some easy reading thrillers last I found Heller's writing difficult to plough through, sometimes only making a couple of pages per session, mind you there were 464 pages of close densely packed small font type - difficult for my eyes to focus on, still nice to get an idea of what happens to Heller's characters post war.
QueenOfGoths
Fuck you Dave!
"A Man Without Breath" Philip Kerr's latest Bernie Gunther novel. Enjoying it. A lot.
Plus "Flare Path" by Terence Rattigan, also enjoyable but will be even more so once I know my lines
Plus "Flare Path" by Terence Rattigan, also enjoyable but will be even more so once I know my lines
darkinthespark
New Member
'The Death and Life of the Great American School System' by Diane Ravitch. A interesting warning about how not to do education, if a little dry and stat-heavy in places.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Pakistan - Democracy, Terror and the Building of a Nation by Iftikhar Malik.
Dillinger4
Es gibt Zeit
I was looking at that a little while ago. Is it any good? I am interested in Pakistan.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
The author doesn't play favourites - both the generals and the (generally supine) civilian leaders come out of it badly. The analysis of why Pakistan suffers the problems it does are put into historical context, and he touches on class issues (nowhere near as deeply as I'd like!
) and the quasi-feudal nature of much of the non-urban social hierarchy in Pakistan. He also doesn't spare either the Raj or the rest of the west for using Pakistan geopolitically, and the Saudis for exporting Wahhabism into Afghanistan and Pakistan as a counterweight to Iran. He also makes attempts to explain how the current situation could be remedied, but makes it clear that such remedies would depend on Pakistan's ruling classes setting aside their own interests for once.Is it any good? Well, I enjoyed it, and it gave me a fresh perspective, so it was worth buying.
Orang Utan
They cannot crucify you if your hand is in a fist
David Stubbs - Future Days: Krautrock and The Building Of Modern Germany.
I have only just started it, but the introduction and prologue got me pretty excited as it turns out Stubbs grew up in Leeds and the beginnings of his Krautrock schooling started at Leeds Record Library, a cavernous hall in the basement of the central library. It was also the source of my early exposure to not only Krautrock, but punk, post-punk, early electronic, experimental and prog rock. I listened to so so much. It was the best record collection ever. The people of Leeds were so so lucky to have such a huge and eclectic collection at their disposal. I would love to know who was behind it all for they were excellent curators.
I have only just started it, but the introduction and prologue got me pretty excited as it turns out Stubbs grew up in Leeds and the beginnings of his Krautrock schooling started at Leeds Record Library, a cavernous hall in the basement of the central library. It was also the source of my early exposure to not only Krautrock, but punk, post-punk, early electronic, experimental and prog rock. I listened to so so much. It was the best record collection ever. The people of Leeds were so so lucky to have such a huge and eclectic collection at their disposal. I would love to know who was behind it all for they were excellent curators.
starfish
No dialogue. Just plot.
Im reading this at the moment too. And enjoying it a lot too.
mentalchik
"I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit."
Blue Remembered Earth - Alastair Reynolds......
gonna start it later on (although i have a sneaking suspicion i already have it somewhere and never got round to it) but it was in Poundland so
gonna start it later on (although i have a sneaking suspicion i already have it somewhere and never got round to it) but it was in Poundland so
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
Howard Jacobson - J
Which could well be subtitled HJ's novelisation of his article from five years ago setting out why he supported Israel in their last war on Gaza. Which is a bit harsh, as there is some marvellous stuff in their abot the creation of the other, and the roles of memory and forgiveness, but the more explicit anti-anti-Zionist stuff (altho its never really that explicit) is a bit hard to take.
Now onto Phil Brett's Comrades Come Rally - which was always my intention to read after being paid, and which is why i went for the Jacobson last rather than another Raymond Chandler, Brett was bound to suffer to much in such a direct comparison between writers of political detective novels.
Which could well be subtitled HJ's novelisation of his article from five years ago setting out why he supported Israel in their last war on Gaza. Which is a bit harsh, as there is some marvellous stuff in their abot the creation of the other, and the roles of memory and forgiveness, but the more explicit anti-anti-Zionist stuff (altho its never really that explicit) is a bit hard to take.
Now onto Phil Brett's Comrades Come Rally - which was always my intention to read after being paid, and which is why i went for the Jacobson last rather than another Raymond Chandler, Brett was bound to suffer to much in such a direct comparison between writers of political detective novels.
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