Whatcha reading?

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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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New tub book:
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I read this over six years ago—I know this because it inspired me to name one of our cats Charlotte and she's a bit over six years old—but the movie was on a few days ago, so I decided to revisit. The premise of the novel is that it's written by one of the movie's characters (Jimmy, the ad agency account man) who is correcting and filling in what the movie gets wrong/omits, tho he also has to rely on the film to fill in blanks where he was in the dark. A gimmick, but it does allow Stillman to expand on his story.

New audiobook:
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Both Nightstalker novels in one audiobook. I've only seen a few episodes of the tv adaptation and it's a lot of fun. I'm only a half hour in so far, but so far it's like a bit of a noir parody. Which isn't a criticism by any means. It's familiar but not reverent toward the genre.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Audiobook started on today's ride:
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I'm not expecting much from this—it's narrative history for a general audience, so entertainment will likely be more important than argument—but I'm a bit encouraged by his assertion that he wants to de-emphasize the big name artists in favour of the lesser knowns who contributed to the whole.

Tub book:
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I've had this forever and finally decided to give it a crack. Saul is a humanist and an old-fashioned high modernist, and so an ardent opponent of globalization, which he defines as a worldview that relies exclusively on an economic-growth lens. The book is over a decade old and now that globalization, the more ambitious sibling of neoliberalism, is indeed being challenged on nationalist and environmentalist fronts, I'm curious how prescient his analysis was.

That book on criticism of mainstream economics is a slog. Lots of graphs that mean zilcho to me and even his dumbed down explanations are fairly impenetrable to me. Still, I've understood enough to see where his criticism is heading. But overall my level of comprehension is pretty embarrassing.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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After five frustrating chapters, I admitted defeat with Keen. Way too many graphs and economic concepts that I don't have the requisite knowledge to appreciate. Clearly not as much for the layperson as I had hoped. So, I'm going in the opposite direction with something light:
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Not a biography but a slew of small essays predicated, mostly, on particular songs. Like McKinney's Magic Circles, the emphasis is on what the Beatles mean to fans, especially those who weren't around in the 1960s (i.e., the weirdness of being obsessed with a group who ceased to exist before so many of their current fans were alive). Thus far, nothing all that thought-provoking, but that's fine—it's Beatles, so it's romantic, it's magic.


I'm also hunting for and reading essays on aspects of the music industry for the rock class. Thus far, my distaste for social science writing is re-confirmed. Dry as fuck and more interested in confirming method than actual analysis and significance.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

deedar
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by deedar »

in the last few months, STEVE JONES - LONELY BOY (Tales of a Sex pistol)

enjoyed it so much got the audio book of it (Read by himself which makes it even more amusing)

Currently reading THE DAMNED - The Chaos Years the 1st 20 years by barry hitchinson available from LULU.COM, cool sight you order book , they print it so as not to waste paper.

not read it yet but got it cheap off the book depository GOD SAVE SEX PISTOLS for 30 quid when it came out last october retailing at about 60 quid

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Finished up both Saul and Sheffield today. Saul is a worthwhile indictment of the last 40+ years, during which time the world fell sway to the idea that economic growth was the only meaningful evaluation of social health and, worse, in Thatcher's words, "There is no alternative." It spurred a destructive passivity before an ideology—faith, more like it—that replaced leaders with managers whose guiding light was risk aversion. It was, he argues, a horrible replay of the latter half of the nineteenth century. Saul's writing is often quick paced, which makes it sometimes witty, other times frustrating. I'm also not clear what turned the tide against globalism. It wasn't working and suddenly some enlightened people just figured it out?

Sheffield is a book of Beatles bullshit. Which isn't necessarily a slam. He's an ardent Beatles fan who throws out interpretations and theories about the group and their significance. None of it is necessary whatsoever, but if you love them the book will mostly entertain. The only piece that really sticks out to me is his argument about the crucial role that Paul played/plays as the Beatle to be abused, the one people love to hate and exaggerate his weaknesses. I've seen some online discussion claiming Sheffield has a hate on for Paul, but I don't think that's fair (Ringo is the one who gets dumped, over and over, as lightweight and all-but unnecessary). It's merely pointing out what is pretty obvious—Paul ends up being the piñata for both fans and haters of the band. Anyway, there's nothing revelatory and crucial in this book, but you likely won't be disappointed either.

New tub book:
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E from Eels' memoir from a decade ago. I'm pretty sure I listened to the audio version of this when it came out. Whatever, I found it for a couple bucks and like to alternate think-y books with something lite.

New bedtime book:
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For the same reason, after Sheffield, something more involved. I was recently reminded of this, so I'll give it a spin.

edit: Changed my mind on the bedtime book.
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"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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13) American Ulysses - Ronald White. A good Presidential biography. I really respond to Grant's character.
a lifetime serving one machine
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eumaas
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by eumaas »

Ha, I got a historian friend who cannot stand Snyder.
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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eumaas wrote:
06 Jun 2017, 6:47pm
Ha, I got a historian friend who cannot stand Snyder.
Me too (I persuaded him to read Black Earth—he hated it, tho we've had subsequent conversations about the Holocaust and he's found himself backed into a corner where he's more allied with him; I was very amused). I'm far from convinced of his argument there, but it's wonderfully aggressive and ambitious, and encouraging of conversation. It also helps that I haven't read a whole lot of Holocaust literature, so my critique is more generalist.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Snyder was short, so I zipped thru it. Shorter version: be civic-minded, eschew cyncism, embrace rational skepticism, privilege real contact over virtual, and be aware that fascism/authoritarianism can happen here. Not a lot to disagree with, I guess, but it's all rather thin, really.

Switching to Heilbrunn now.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Finished listening to Ward's history of rock n roll (up to 1963) on my ride this morning. Very mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, he tells a fairly familiar story well, while adding in a lot of lesser known figures. It is an entertaining enough narrative. However, it's fundamentally an exercise in confirming rock's mythology of rebellion triumphant. By using a collective biography approach—as narrative histories tend to do—it ends up a story of all these geniuses, known and unknown, standing up and thru the force of personality and ability and changing the world. The great man (men) theory of history. All very much in the liberal tradition of individual against society and forcing society to bend (or being beaten by society). There's no discussion of economic or demographic trends. Just a smattering of technology and politics. It's a version to make us want to feel good about it all, not think about it. Why does rock n roll happen? Lots of great people just willed it into existence. As I said, entertaining, but not especially persuasive.

(It also suffers from some horrendous typos and factual errors. Three that stand out: He identifies Al Jardine as a Wilson cousin. While he properly identifies Oren Harris as chair of the House payola investigation in 1960, elsewhere he calls him Orrin Hatch, leader of the Senate payola investigation. Close, but wrong time period, wrong investigation, wrong part of Congress, and, yeah, wrong name. Similarly, he says that Ringo was poached from Rory and the Hurricanes, but at one point he calls the band Billy Fury and the Hurricanes. How shit that obvious gets thru the proofing stage(s)—especially the latter two, where it's in direct contradiction with other passages—is beyond sloppy.)

Anyway, I'm now listening to a short story collection called Bronx Noir. Nothing too memorable thus far.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Mimi
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Currently reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Been meaning to read this for years but never got around to it.

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Mimi wrote:
12 Jun 2017, 8:27am
Currently reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Been meaning to read this for years but never got around to it.
How's the writing? The few times I've flipped thru her stuff—and, in all honesty, it was truly flipping—it didn't seem especially inviting (i.e., it was really demanding).
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
12 Jun 2017, 8:46am
Mimi wrote:
12 Jun 2017, 8:27am
Currently reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Been meaning to read this for years but never got around to it.
How's the writing? The few times I've flipped thru her stuff—and, in all honesty, it was truly flipping—it didn't seem especially inviting (i.e., it was really demanding).
Very stylistic. Surprisingly, it doesn't annoy me all that much. The only thing that annoys me is Offred's observation of all the mundane things, like the thread color in the rug on the floor. I just read a chapter and skimmed most of it. Maybe it's wearing thin for me. :shifty: :meh:

eumaas
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by eumaas »

I read Oryx and Crake recently, which was OK, but the neologisms got on my nerves.
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Mimi wrote:
12 Jun 2017, 9:18am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
12 Jun 2017, 8:46am
Mimi wrote:
12 Jun 2017, 8:27am
Currently reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Been meaning to read this for years but never got around to it.
How's the writing? The few times I've flipped thru her stuff—and, in all honesty, it was truly flipping—it didn't seem especially inviting (i.e., it was really demanding).
Very stylistic. Surprisingly, it doesn't annoy me all that much. The only thing that annoys me is Offred's observation of all the mundane things, like the thread color in the rug on the floor. I just read a chapter and skimmed most of it. Maybe it's wearing thin for me. :shifty: :meh:
I've read most of Fleming's Bond novels, largely out of bullheadedness because they aren't very good, and he also had an obsession with uninteresting details, particularly food. I can't imagine anyone caring that Bond ordered three carrots, buttered, two string means, non-buttered, a half-litre of buttermilk, a lightly seared pork chop with two-and-a-half teaspoons of marmalade on the side, three slices of a French loaf, and six pinches of black pepper. Wretched.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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