Whatcha reading?

[eumaas]

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.

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.

Fielding's Joseph Andrews managed to parody that back in the 18th century, where he says of the titular fictional character's dinner that "he accordingly [ate] either a Rabbit or a Fowl, I never could with any tolerable Certainty discover which."

[Dr. Medulla]

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.

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.

Fielding's Joseph Andrews managed to parody that back in the 18th century, where he says of the titular fictional character's dinner that "he accordingly [ate] either a Rabbit or a Fowl, I never could with any tolerable Certainty discover which."

*snicker* The best defence I could come up with for Fleming's habit was in relation to extended post-war rationing, making Bond's precision with food evidence of his status. But being a suave spy should mean more than precisely three fucking carrots.

[Low Down Low]

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

As it happens I just read this book a couple of weeks ago. Never read any Atwood before and thought it was pretty decent, though for that kind of broad futuristic/dystopian canvas, I find it hard to look beyond Ballard.

[Mimi]

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

As it happens I just read this book a couple of weeks ago. Never read any Atwood before and thought it was pretty decent, though for that kind of broad futuristic/dystopian canvas, I find it hard to look beyond Ballard.

Have you watched it on Hulu yet? (Not sure if you're in the states or not.)

[Dr. Medulla]

Finished up Mark Everett's book. Really quite wonderful and recommended. A guy who seems a half step from death around him—finding his father's body, his messed-up sister OD's and later commits suicide, his mother dies of cancer, a cousin was a flight attendant on one of the 9/11 planes, etc—and grew up in a very dysfunctional family. Stalked by death, seemingly, music is therapy and helps him find the value of life in it all. That sounds corny, but his telling of his messed up life is quite touching and often funny. There's no sense of a genius in the pages—no surprise that he's plagued by self-doubt—just a guy doing what he can and it turns out he's kinda good at making music. He's a weirdo, but the kind of weirdo that inspires.

Next tub book is, I think, the last unread Weatherman book on my shelf, David Gilbert's Love and Struggle.


I think he's the only one still in jail, albeit for participation in a fatal armed robbery in 1980.

[Low Down Low]

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

As it happens I just read this book a couple of weeks ago. Never read any Atwood before and thought it was pretty decent, though for that kind of broad futuristic/dystopian canvas, I find it hard to look beyond Ballard.

Have you watched it on Hulu yet? (Not sure if you're in the states or not.)

Wasn't aware there was a tv series out, looks a pretty decent cast. Actually, that might explain why it was in the new books section in the library, in my ignorance I thought it was her latest release so decided to give it a spin.

I dont live in the states but then thats never stopped me watching stuff before!

[Dr. Medulla]

One thing that baffles me is how often audiobook readers mispronounce words and that no one else noticed or cared before the recording was released. While riding today, the reader of the short story collection I was listening to pronounced Dachau as Datch-ow. And no one caught this and said, "Let's redo that."

[Silent Majority]

One thing that baffles me is how often audiobook readers mispronounce words and that no one else noticed or cared before the recording was released. While riding today, the reader of the short story collection I was listening to pronounced Dachau as Datch-ow. And no one caught this and said, "Let's redo that."

I'm listening to a history of the FBI and was informed whilst riding my bike (by a no-nonsense, gravelly voiced G-man sounding type) that there is no historical evidence to back up the rumours of J. Edgar Hoover’s homosexual orgies, with the hardest of Gs.

[Dr. Medulla]

One thing that baffles me is how often audiobook readers mispronounce words and that no one else noticed or cared before the recording was released. While riding today, the reader of the short story collection I was listening to pronounced Dachau as Datch-ow. And no one caught this and said, "Let's redo that."

I'm listening to a history of the FBI and was informed whilst riding my bike (by a no-nonsense, gravelly voiced G-man sounding type) that there is no historical evidence to back up the rumours of J. Edgar Hoover’s homosexual orgies, with the hardest of Gs.

That's almost charming, to the point that I'm tempted to adopt the mispronunciation myself. Thanks to a Flintstones episode were confiscated was pronounced confisticated, I have to consciously work at pronouncing it properly.

Another audiobook example that comes to mind is pronouncing Stuyvesant (as in Bedford Stuyvesant, a part of Brooklyn) as Stoo-ee-vess-unt, rather than Stoy-vess-unt. And because it was a fairly pertinent part of the book, it was mispronounced over and over and over.

[revbob]

Next tub book is, I think, the last unread Weatherman book on my shelf, David Gilbert's Love and Struggle.


I think he's the only one still in jail, albeit for participation in a fatal armed robbery in 1980.

Brinks robbery 1981 in Nanuet, NY. Close to where I grew up. My Aunt saw some of the commotion as she was there to do some shopping at the Nanuet Mall. One of the others involved was Mutulu Shakur who is somehow related to Tupac Shakur I believe. Wikipedia will know but I don't feel like looking it up.

[revbob]

One thing that baffles me is how often audiobook readers mispronounce words and that no one else noticed or cared before the recording was released. While riding today, the reader of the short story collection I was listening to pronounced Dachau as Datch-ow. And no one caught this and said, "Let's redo that."

My daughter was a voracious reader growing up and read way above her age level. She would some times use words properly but not pronounce them properly because she had never heard them but knew their meaning from reading so much.

[Silent Majority]

One thing that baffles me is how often audiobook readers mispronounce words and that no one else noticed or cared before the recording was released. While riding today, the reader of the short story collection I was listening to pronounced Dachau as Datch-ow. And no one caught this and said, "Let's redo that."

My daughter was a voracious reader growing up and read way above her age level. She would some times use words properly but not pronounce them properly because she had never heard them but knew their meaning from reading so much.

I still do that.

[Dr. Medulla]

Next tub book is, I think, the last unread Weatherman book on my shelf, David Gilbert's Love and Struggle.


I think he's the only one still in jail, albeit for participation in a fatal armed robbery in 1980.

Brinks robbery 1981 in Nanuet, NY. Close to where I grew up. My Aunt saw some of the commotion as she was there to do some shopping at the Nanuet Mall. One of the others involved was Mutulu Shakur who is somehow related to Tupac Shakur I believe. Wikipedia will know but I don't feel like looking it up.

Yup—stepfather. That's wild that you have a secondary connection to the last big Weather-related event.

[Dr. Medulla]

I'm about to give up on this. I've been dissatisfied, for the most part, with what I've assigned in the past to talk about race, class, and sex in hip hop, and the description of the book suggested some promise, offering a deeper historical appreciation. But, Christ on a cracker, it's hard not to think the reader is being taken for a ride. The introduction goes on about how all previous hip hop studies have been myopic or just plain lousy. Okay, a bit bold, but fine. I'm halfway thru the first chapter—sorry, "remix"; no chapters in this book, they're all remixes because he's "literally" remixing African American history, tho I don't really know what that means—and it's still nothing but all the things that other scholars have done poorly and what he's going to do. Not doing, but going to do. Other irritations are way way way too much use of italics—whole sentences, passages, seemingly at least one word in every sentence. Italics are meant to signal the reader to pay extra special attention; do it too much and it loses effectiveness. Like yelling all the time. All in all, I'm losing patience with a guy who's promising me, over and over again, some fantastic revelation of great significance, yet can't fucking get around to doing it. As I tell students, the reader's time is valuable—don't fucking well abuse it. The only way I'd use anything here is to give students someone to kick around.

So, back to the hip hop anthologies for something else.

[Dr. Medulla]

Finished up listening to the short story collection Bronx Noir yesterday. Meh, nothing to recommend. Most of the stories aren't noir and I'm not sure if any of them demanded to be set in the Bronx. I'll be listening to this today:


Quite liked his history of the 1940s and 50s comic book panic. No real idea what this is about beyond the title.