*What book are you reading? (part 2)
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Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari
Not so much a history book and theres a fair few things he glosses over (Steam power wasn't just ignored, it took centuries for the metalwork capable of actually harnessing it to be in place) but its a good hard look at modern culture and how we got to where we are today.
Not so much a history book and theres a fair few things he glosses over (Steam power wasn't just ignored, it took centuries for the metalwork capable of actually harnessing it to be in place) but its a good hard look at modern culture and how we got to where we are today.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
stalin 1878-1928 by stephen kotkin, very good tho only about 40 pages in.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
I despised victor frankenstein. Not even strong enough to take ownership of his own evil hubris, to revel in it. Sees someone else hang for his monsters crimes. Just a whiny prick
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Today i finished Thelonious Monk, Life and Times of an an American Original, By Robin D.Kelley. It's at once an indepth biography of the High Priest of Bebop and scholarly examination of his music...amazing.
Its a mindblowing adventure around 40's and 50's New York - i felt like Thelonious himself was leading me by his sacred hands around Mintons, The Five Spot and other places. Anyone reading this book will feel incredibly intensified like me.
I listened to the tunes all the way....i stopped and read annotated notes all the way and listened to Monks tunes every day, i know his stuff anyway but its an extraodrinarily fun journey if you want to get to know Monk and his music...
(there was a mistake in it about Brendan Behan on page 359 but its a minor error, i wrote to the author about it, its fine...!!)
I had this book on my radar for about two years and finally got round to reading it and it was so infectious, just like his music. I cannot put into words my feelings about this book better than someone on amazon has, so this is it:
Painstakingly researched and passionately written with a strong story line,"Monk" grips the reader from start to finish.The author gets behind the Monk character and psyche to portray what made him tick,how did he think and what went behind the man whose compositions and playing style continue to captivate millions even today as it confused thousands during his time.One lives and breathes each scene as you sit along with Monk as he relentlessly composes each of his tunes, rehearses with his sidemen and makes his recordings.
You are with him and the other greats at his gigs at Mintons, Five Spot, the 52nd Street clubs, Newport and all of Europe You are by his side as he scuffles and suffers poverty,house fires,mental illness,ridicule by critics and social ostracization....before gaining recognition.. You come within talking and breathing distance of Diz, Bird,Coltrane,Miles,Charlie Rouse,Bud Powell,Elmo Hope, and so many more that one has heard and read about.... its unbelievably realistic...
If you are a jazz person, this book has to be by your bedside, not just on your shelf.
Its a mindblowing adventure around 40's and 50's New York - i felt like Thelonious himself was leading me by his sacred hands around Mintons, The Five Spot and other places. Anyone reading this book will feel incredibly intensified like me.
I listened to the tunes all the way....i stopped and read annotated notes all the way and listened to Monks tunes every day, i know his stuff anyway but its an extraodrinarily fun journey if you want to get to know Monk and his music...
(there was a mistake in it about Brendan Behan on page 359 but its a minor error, i wrote to the author about it, its fine...!!)
I had this book on my radar for about two years and finally got round to reading it and it was so infectious, just like his music. I cannot put into words my feelings about this book better than someone on amazon has, so this is it:
Painstakingly researched and passionately written with a strong story line,"Monk" grips the reader from start to finish.The author gets behind the Monk character and psyche to portray what made him tick,how did he think and what went behind the man whose compositions and playing style continue to captivate millions even today as it confused thousands during his time.One lives and breathes each scene as you sit along with Monk as he relentlessly composes each of his tunes, rehearses with his sidemen and makes his recordings.
You are with him and the other greats at his gigs at Mintons, Five Spot, the 52nd Street clubs, Newport and all of Europe You are by his side as he scuffles and suffers poverty,house fires,mental illness,ridicule by critics and social ostracization....before gaining recognition.. You come within talking and breathing distance of Diz, Bird,Coltrane,Miles,Charlie Rouse,Bud Powell,Elmo Hope, and so many more that one has heard and read about.... its unbelievably realistic...
If you are a jazz person, this book has to be by your bedside, not just on your shelf.
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JimW
支那暗杀团
For some reason was thinking about Ulverton by Adam Thorpe that I read years ago and recall really enjoying. Didn't realise he'd written more since so rather than reread that got Hodd, his take on Robin Hood which I'm really enjoying. Conceit is it's a translated manuscript found in a bombed out church in WWI, the aged memories of a guilty monk who ran with the Free Spirit heretic outlaw Robert Hodd when a boy. About halfway in and finding it a good story with credible ideas and the same great turns of phrase I remembered him having in the other one.
marty21
One on one? You're crazy.
thankfully it was excellent - Conspiracy thriller - guns, ex special forces, big business, betrayal and double cross, very complex, blurring between good guys and bad guys - a jolly good romp if you like these sorts of books
JimW
支那暗杀团
Most of the way through Alan Garner's Stone Quartet which must be one of the best things I've read for years, four stories of generations of the same family down the years subtly linked. Each turns on some particular moment in a child's growing, nothing unlikely but written so you understand the import and he beautifully conveys all sorts of social and family information in details and natural interactions. Barely a spare word but one of the most satisfying bits of writing I can recall for a long time.
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
The Talsiman - Peter Straub/Stephen King
Takes a while to get going but not bad.
Takes a while to get going but not bad.
oneunder
Mind The Gap !
theres also a sequel. if you enjoy the talisman try his dark tower series. its sort of based in the same universe.
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
theres also a sequel. if you enjoy the talisman try his dark tower series. its sort of based in the same universe.
I read the first couple of books of those many years ago, always meant to give them another go now they are finished, but theres just so bloody many its hard to motivate myself
BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
Following a recommendation from ringo I'm finally getting round to reading something by Kate Atkinson.
I've started with Life after Life, and I'm really enjoying it - thought-provoking and absorbing, I was glad it was wet and windy this weekend as it gave me the perfect excuse to stay indoors and read!
I've started with Life after Life, and I'm really enjoying it - thought-provoking and absorbing, I was glad it was wet and windy this weekend as it gave me the perfect excuse to stay indoors and read!
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
It's all about the numbers at the mo.....
Quarter of the way through A Brief History of Seven Killings - Marlon James. Which is excellent, but not a light read, it's taking me some time. And the next two lined up are not dissimilar:
Umberto Eco - Numero Zero - always a breeze our Umberto, and this looks fun, relatively short for hi, about the laughs and giggles of seventies Italian politics.
Jonathan Coe - Number 11. His eleventh book, and a follow up to his best, What A Carve Up!
I'm gonna have to throw in some nice light ones so I can reach my reading target this year
Quarter of the way through A Brief History of Seven Killings - Marlon James. Which is excellent, but not a light read, it's taking me some time. And the next two lined up are not dissimilar:
Umberto Eco - Numero Zero - always a breeze our Umberto, and this looks fun, relatively short for hi, about the laughs and giggles of seventies Italian politics.
Jonathan Coe - Number 11. His eleventh book, and a follow up to his best, What A Carve Up!
I'm gonna have to throw in some nice light ones so I can reach my reading target this year
Morrissey's autobiography. I see he had a miserable schooling, too.
Idris2002
Stay Alive in '25
Is that the one that claims that Lenin's Testament was a forgery?
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
quite possibly, i haven't got that far. but it's a while since i read another biography of stalin (e.g. deutscher, service, radzinsky, amis, volkogonov, montefiore) and i couldn't say definitively it's not one of those.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
you might find this interesting Forgery of Lenin's Testament
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