recently:william manchester, "a world lit only by fire" (you should read this, adam, if you haven't already.)joshua shenk, "lincoln's melancholy"
i really want to read "eichmann in jerusalem" sometime soon.
xpost to stormy d: what liner notes have you been reading? lately i been reading coley's "black woman" notes, the back of terry riley's "shri camel" and also trying to get a grasp on the (Spanish) notes to the first Color Humano LP.
― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:11 (eighteen years ago) link
I really enjoyed the notes to Jackson C. Frank's "Blues Run The Game". Almost farcical tragedy!
― Adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:12 (eighteen years ago) link
I read these two together as there is some obvious debt to Carver in Murakami's work (Murakami commercially translated much of Carver from English to Japanese), it becomes even more evident in his short stories. The Elephant Vanishes is intriguing as it balances two radically different translators against each other (smooth, street-versed Alfred Birnbaum vs. stuffy, academic Jay Rubin). Rubin's translations come off like your terribly out-of-touch uncle's thoughts on pop culture whereas Birnbaum's voice seems truer to Murakami's. Additionally, the first chapter of The Elephant Vanishes is the first chapter of Murakami's epic The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle... translated by Birnbaum (the novel was translated by Rubin). It offers a short teaser of how much stronger the book's impact may have been had Birnbaum done the translation.
Other than some of the Fantastic-ness of The Elephant Vanishes stories, I found that Murakami's familiar themes of loss of companionship and frequent drinking paralleled much of what Carver mined in his.
What else... Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness (found on the sidewalk around the corner from me). Just started, I last read this 17 years ago.
― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:19 (eighteen years ago) link
jimbo in purgatory ...gary pantera new kind of christian book 1... brian mclarenthe last word and the word after that book 3... brian mclarengod's politics... wallischris crawford on game design... chris c.everything bad is good for you... steven johnsonthe areas of my expertise... james hodgeshitchhikers guide vol 1-5 (on 3)... d. adams
lot of churchy crap right now... need to divert shortly.m.
― msp (mspa), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:22 (eighteen years ago) link
I raced through Fast Food Nation on the train back from NYC to Chi (behind the times, I know).
― gbx (skowly), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― Adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:35 (eighteen years ago) link
ha anyone read that "Wreckers Of Civilization"?
― Adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― latebloomer: keeping his reputation for an intense on-set presence (latebloomer), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:43 (eighteen years ago) link
you are TRULY noise.
― Adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― Stormy Davis (diamond), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:44 (eighteen years ago) link
Boy. Seems like all I did for a spell there was drink gin-and-tonics and read the entirety of Raymond Carver's catalogue.
― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:48 (eighteen years ago) link
irony.
― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:50 (eighteen years ago) link
Oh you said "bookshop"!
uh oh
― Adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― Adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― Adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― gbx (skowly), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― Adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:02 (eighteen years ago) link
no it's technically a giftshop but who buys the junk in there that ain't books?
― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:04 (eighteen years ago) link
xpost call it a giftshop then! also: i have bought a pen before, but that's because I needed one.
― gbx (skowly), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tripmaker (SDWitzm), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― killy (baby lenin pin), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:06 (eighteen years ago) link
Bright Lights, Dark Shadows: The Real Story of ABBA
from the library:Patricia Campbell Hearst - Every Secret ThingEmily Wortis Leider - Becoming Mae WestDonald Spoto - LenyaSimon Winchester - A Crack on the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906
― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:06 (eighteen years ago) link
me!
xpost
― gbx (skowly), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:07 (eighteen years ago) link
three of these are on my list!
― Adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― killy (baby lenin pin), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:14 (eighteen years ago) link
I am reading:
Varese - a looking glass diary, Louise VareseElectric Sound - Joel Chadabe
― milton parker (Jon L), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:19 (eighteen years ago) link
hey cunningh4m: is that DFW book any good? I read A Supposedly Fun Thing and that it was outstanding (esp the titular essay).
― gbx (skowly), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:23 (eighteen years ago) link
i have just started:albert camus - the plaguefrantz fanon - the wretched of the earth
i have just recently finished:sigmund freud - 3 essays on the theory of sexualityslavoj zizek - welcome to the desert of the realstewart home - assault on culture
wreckers of civilization sounds good
― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:23 (eighteen years ago) link
m.
― msp (mspa), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― Adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― gbx (skowly), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― Adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:27 (eighteen years ago) link
― gbx (skowly), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:27 (eighteen years ago) link
― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― gbx (skowly), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― gbx (skowly), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:29 (eighteen years ago) link
I loved Stranger in a Strange Land.Huge influence on all that hippy shit, of course. There's a reference to it in David Crosby's "Triad"
― Trip Maker, Thursday, 27 May 2010 19:33 (thirteen years ago) link
Suppose I should note that I mostly love classic sci-fi.
― Trip Maker, Thursday, 27 May 2010 19:36 (thirteen years ago) link
i'll eventually read it i think. i've never really done too much sci-fi
― jaxon, Thursday, 27 May 2010 20:41 (thirteen years ago) link
bill c. malone - country music u.s.a.
ian if you come across a copy of John Morthland's Best of Country Music, snap it up
― you're either part of the problem or part of the solution (m coleman), Thursday, 27 May 2010 21:37 (thirteen years ago) link
will do.
― ian, Thursday, 27 May 2010 21:39 (thirteen years ago) link
how fun is it to read books with exclamation points in the title!
― peacocks, Thursday, May 27, 2010 9:55 AM (Yesterday)
otm, it's really good so far too
― harbl, Saturday, 29 May 2010 00:33 (thirteen years ago) link
gonna try to see if the library has a circulating copy of this http://www.amazon.com/Monument-Good-Intentions-Maryland-Penitentiary/dp/0938420674?&camp=212361 because i love the title and it seems right up my alley
― harbl, Saturday, 29 May 2010 00:34 (thirteen years ago) link
not that it has an exclamation point in the title but i will probably start reading it soon, for the record
― harbl, Saturday, 29 May 2010 00:36 (thirteen years ago) link
let the great world spin
― mookieproof, Saturday, 29 May 2010 00:38 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm really starting to think i need to schedule some sit down novel reading time.
― forksclovetofu, Saturday, 29 May 2010 13:00 (thirteen years ago) link
i am a fugitive...! is great and only took me like 2 days to read. i am reading "the real eve: modern man's journey out of africa" now
― harbl, Monday, 31 May 2010 19:31 (thirteen years ago) link
mccarthy - suttreejournals of john cheever
― ian, Saturday, 5 June 2010 03:53 (thirteen years ago) link
Jim Thompson - The Killer Inside Me
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 5 June 2010 10:41 (thirteen years ago) link
fawwaz traboulsi - a history of modern lebanon
― cozen, Saturday, 5 June 2010 10:44 (thirteen years ago) link
peter ackroyd's blake biography
― fuckd and bombd (r1o natsume), Saturday, 5 June 2010 16:22 (thirteen years ago) link
shoot mama i just finished ben marcus' "the flame alphabet" oh, such a thing of giddy delight. he's bolted his dusty post-apoc quay bros jungian schtick onto the story of "chitty chitty bang bang". downright cheesy james patterson style in places, but he has such an exquisite turn of phrase, i'll forgive him that. i was down on the guy for a while cos i failed to reread "notable american women" ( sorta one trick pony of a book ), discovered stanley crawford's "some instructions.." which with a little (actually, a whole shitload of) added obfuscatory pseudo-symbology was effectively "the age of wire and string", and i heard an interview with him where he said "yeah i'd liken my work to kafka's" (a disappointingly naive, self regarding and coattailsy thing to say ), but he has now redeemed himself. the book is grand.
― iglu ferrignu, Thursday, 26 January 2012 10:23 (twelve years ago) link
been on a binge recently. can't get enough & gf been away from home, so:stanley crawford - gascoyne: ropey sub terry southern 60's "satire";stanley crawford - travel notes - goofy monty python meets hunter thompson, still a disappointment compared to "unguentine"/ "some instructions..." which are divine.stanley crawford - mayordomo - neat n sweet non fiction about stewarding an irrigation ditch.jon ronson - the psychopath test - did this in 5 hours.conan doyle - hound of the baskervilles. loved it.thomas bernhard "the loser" (auf englisch, schande!)tiresome in that he always writes about self-appointed superior ponce so sympathetically, but being a self-appointed superior ponce, ich liebte das, natürlich.re-read self's "quantity theory" o, for when he was on, he was on.i think i shall attempt shatner's teklab next.
― iglu ferrignu, Monday, 13 February 2012 18:06 (twelve years ago) link
clark ashton smith - the book of hyperboreageorge saunders - civilwarland in bad decline (re-reading some stories not all)richard stark - the hunterseveral brett halliday 'michael shayne mysteries'jim thompson 'a hell of a woman' (preferred this to pop 1280 maybe.)charles williams 'a touch of death'
― one dis leads to another (ian), Monday, 13 February 2012 23:01 (twelve years ago) link
hound of the baskervilles otm
― beware of greeks bearing petrol bombs (darraghmac), Monday, 13 February 2012 23:10 (twelve years ago) link
recently finished:julian barnes - the sense of an endingdava sobel - a more perfect heavencarl t bogus - buckley: william f buckley and the rise of amerikan conservatismjo nesbo - headhuntersjames ellroy - blood's a rover
just started:derek raymond - how the dead live
on deck:jennifer egan - visit from the goon squadlouis menand - the metaphysical club
j
― demolition with discretion (m coleman), Tuesday, 14 February 2012 11:41 (twelve years ago) link
carl t bogus - buckley: william f buckley and the rise of amerikan conservatism
never has an author's name been more appropriate - this book was half-assed in terms of content and execution. would still like to read a thorough takedown of mr. patrician smarty-pants
― demolition with discretion (m coleman), Tuesday, 14 February 2012 11:46 (twelve years ago) link
i am so slowly readingeldridge cleaver - soul on icean anthology about baltimore riots in 1968 i started in december
but i'm not allowed to start another book until i finish both
― kim tim jim investor (harbl), Tuesday, 14 February 2012 12:26 (twelve years ago) link
Soul on ice is great
― little clouds of citrus spritz as i peel (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 14 February 2012 12:42 (twelve years ago) link
Currently reading John Calvin Batchelor's The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica which is excellent.
Preceded by:Kate Wilhelm's Juniper Time which I didn't like as much Where Late The Sweet Birds SingChester Brown's Paying For It which I found difficult to get throughVladimir Sorokin's Ice which might be better in russian, but I found the translation tough to takeChristopher Priest's The Inverted World which I also really liked
Next will be Michael Bishop's No Enemy But Time as I slowly carve me way through some late 60s-early80s sci-fi on various lists that I'd previously never read.
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 14 February 2012 23:59 (twelve years ago) link
about 200pgs into the Art of Fielding. it's aight
― dmr, Wednesday, 15 February 2012 18:15 (twelve years ago) link
richard stark - the hunter
Everything I've read from the Parker books has been very entertaining. I'm not usually into the whole hard-boiled style but Luc Sante's blog sold me on this series. It was nice to see them published again with Sante doing the intros.
― gutta gutta island (s. morris), Thursday, 16 February 2012 06:04 (twelve years ago) link
I actually slightly prefer the Dortmunder books, but I like pretty much everything that Stark/Westlake wrote.
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Thursday, 16 February 2012 14:12 (twelve years ago) link
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad, keep getting images from the Peter O'Toole film which I wish i didn't would like it more if my mind created its own images.
Also Judge Dredd/Hammerstein.
― Stevolende, Thursday, 16 February 2012 17:00 (twelve years ago) link
finished:osamu dazai - no longer human (very bleak!)gene wolfe - book of the new sungeorges simenon - maigret and the death of a harbor master
reading:charles williams - the wrong venusrobert b parker - the widening gyre (still digging these)donald westlake - get real (the first dortmunder i am reading. i have a few others that i got at thrift stores i haven't checked out yet. but i love the parker & grofield stuff, and some of the other one-off novels of his i have read as well--361 was good, so was Somebody Owes Me Money.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Monday, 13 August 2012 22:00 (eleven years ago) link
Adam Winkler - Gunfight: The Battle Over The right to Bear Arms in America
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 13 August 2012 22:02 (eleven years ago) link
I'm about 150 pages from the end of Bolano's 2666
― dmr, Monday, 13 August 2012 22:15 (eleven years ago) link
reading now:the jewel in the skull - michael moorcock (silly pulpy sword & sorcery but i like that stuff sometimes)the wrong venus - charles williams (dirty-book themed crime caper, love williams.)
just finished:the hot spot, also by charles williams. for fans of the usual suspects -- willeford, thompson, goodis et al. small town car salesman gets tied up with two women and several criminal activities ensue.
gave up on get real.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Saturday, 1 September 2012 02:28 (eleven years ago) link
i'll get back to it.
Any Simenon recommendations, ian? I picked up a nice Maigret omnibus yesterday and started with Liberty Bar.
― jim, Saturday, 1 September 2012 02:46 (eleven years ago) link
i am fairly new to simenon actually, but he is probably my wife's favorite writer after Raymond Chandler. She swears by all the Maigret mysteries. Of the non-Maigret stuff, I thought Dirty Snow was a-mazing.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Saturday, 1 September 2012 02:53 (eleven years ago) link
the jewel in the skull - michael moorcock
could never get into anything outside the sci fi except elric. is that corum or hawkmoon or what?
― the late great, Saturday, 1 September 2012 03:55 (eleven years ago) link
i'm trying to read "the golden space" but it's pretty hard going (see sci fi thread, recently)
― the late great, Saturday, 1 September 2012 03:56 (eleven years ago) link
tempted to switch to babel 187 or engine summer
that is some hawkmoon action.i never read anything outside the elric when i was a kid.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Saturday, 1 September 2012 04:25 (eleven years ago) link
ditched "Vineland" to do 3 barthelmes on the trot.on 4th & enjoying immensely. he clicks for me, unlike the pynch. an effortless read.also 1/2way through "the ticket that exploded". not read any burroughs in abt 15yrs & i forgot just how fantastic he gets at the top of his game.
― iglu ferrignu, Saturday, 1 September 2012 07:22 (eleven years ago) link
finished 2666. really blew me away unlike Savage Detectives which I thought was pretty overrated. not sure what I'm going to pick up next. someone left a book called "Hopeful Monsters" by Nicholas Moseley in a free pile on the sidewalk and I grabbed it but not sure if I want to read it now.
oh yeah also read Ragtime a while ago, that was good
― dmr, Sunday, 2 September 2012 01:42 (eleven years ago) link