Whatcha reading?

[Silent Majority]

15) I, Robot - Isaac Asimov. Fun all the way through, including the two dimensional human characters and casual male supremacy.

Loved that book as a kid. I occasionally return to Asimov and re-read a bit. His robot stories still delight, imho.

It's the platonic ideal of golden age sci fi. All you could want from the genre and time. Think I had read it as a teen, but not sure. Really impressive thinking. I'm going to reread Foundation. Been about 14 years since I got it from the library.

[Dr. Medulla]

15) I, Robot - Isaac Asimov. Fun all the way through, including the two dimensional human characters and casual male supremacy.

Loved that book as a kid. I occasionally return to Asimov and re-read a bit. His robot stories still delight, imho.

It's the platonic ideal of golden age sci fi. All you could want from the genre and time. Think I had read it as a teen, but not sure. Really impressive thinking. I'm going to reread Foundation. Been about 14 years since I got it from the library.

Never been a huge fan of scifi, but I've listened to an audiobook of I, Robot and enjoyed it massively. Tried reading Foundation once, but got bored and abandoned it.

[Flex]

His robot stories are more playful, which is to his benefit although some of his Foundation stuff is pretty fun too.

I downloaded a torrent a while back of a dozen or so .pdfs of all of Asimov's "shared universe" material presented in order that they took place in-universe. I never made too much headway, but it was a pretty impressive work - and front loaded with lots of great robot short stories.

[Kory]

15) I, Robot - Isaac Asimov. Fun all the way through, including the two dimensional human characters and casual male supremacy.

Loved that book as a kid. I occasionally return to Asimov and re-read a bit. His robot stories still delight, imho.

Shocker.

[Dr. Medulla]

Current audiobook:


I mention this mainly because it's narrated by Bronson Pinchot but, sadly, he doesn't use Balki's voice. Just a slow, sedate delivery. Seems like an opportunity lost.

[Kory]

I've started reading some Umberto Eco. Like most authors new to me, I've started with a collection of shorter pieces, this one called How to Travel with a Salmon. Good, funny stuff so far.

I've also almost finished Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint. I don't know what the hell I thought this book was going to be about, but I was not even slightly expecting what it's turned out to be. I think I got the sense somewhere along the way that it's a classic or something, which I've now been schooled on. I like it, though.

[Dr. Medulla]

I've started reading some Umberto Eco. Like most authors new to me, I've started with a collection of shorter pieces, this one called How to Travel with a Salmon. Good, funny stuff so far.

I've tried to read Foucault's Pendulum around three times. I've probably admitted defeat around the 20% mark each time.

I've also almost finished Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint. I don't know what the hell I thought this book was going to be about, but I was not even slightly expecting what it's turned out to be. I think I got the sense somewhere along the way that it's a classic or something, which I've now been schooled on. I like it, though.

I've only read his American Pastoral, but I loved it. In its own way, it previews Mad Men—the comfortable and confident WWII vet whose world is upended by the turmoil of the 1960s.

[Kory]

I've started reading some Umberto Eco. Like most authors new to me, I've started with a collection of shorter pieces, this one called How to Travel with a Salmon. Good, funny stuff so far.

I've tried to read Foucault's Pendulum around three times. I've probably admitted defeat around the 20% mark each time.

I grabbed that one too, but I wanted to see what I thought of the essays before I dove into such a dense-looking book. I had the same problem with Catch-22. It's funny enough, but it didn't grab me enough to get past chapter 8. Maybe if there was a plot earlier on or something.

I've also almost finished Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint. I don't know what the hell I thought this book was going to be about, but I was not even slightly expecting what it's turned out to be. I think I got the sense somewhere along the way that it's a classic or something, which I've now been schooled on. I like it, though.

I've only read his American Pastoral, but I loved it. In its own way, it previews Mad Men—the comfortable and confident WWII vet whose world is upended by the turmoil of the 1960s.

I grabbed a couple others of his yesterday after getting through most of Portnoy, so we'll see if they can match it. I didn't see American Pastoral there, but I'll put it on the list.

[Dr. Medulla]

I had the same problem with Catch-22. It's funny enough, but it didn't grab me enough to get past chapter 8. Maybe if there was a plot earlier on or something.

I read Catch-22 twice in my 20s and listened to it a couple years ago, and it was only this last time that I really appreciated its traumatic hilarity. A huge part of that was due to my reading on 1950s anxiety about bureaucracy and a managed society and the loss of individuality. Listening to it in the light of those intellectual critiques—that Heller was writing about modern mass society—made all the difference for me. The lack of concrete plot is a reflection of a sense that a managed life has no narrative, that we're just on a treadmill until we die. Gotta be one of the top five novels of the second half of the 20th c.

[Kory]

I had the same problem with Catch-22. It's funny enough, but it didn't grab me enough to get past chapter 8. Maybe if there was a plot earlier on or something.

I read Catch-22 twice in my 20s and listened to it a couple years ago, and it was only this last time that I really appreciated its traumatic hilarity. A huge part of that was due to my reading on 1950s anxiety about bureaucracy and a managed society and the loss of individuality. Listening to it in the light of those intellectual critiques—that Heller was writing about modern mass society—made all the difference for me. The lack of concrete plot is a reflection of a sense that a managed life has no narrative, that we're just on a treadmill until we die. Gotta be one of the top five novels of the second half of the 20th c.

I'll have to try it again in a few years. In the context you mention, is it meant to be allegorical like Animal Farm, or more just a general critique?

[Dr. Medulla]

I had the same problem with Catch-22. It's funny enough, but it didn't grab me enough to get past chapter 8. Maybe if there was a plot earlier on or something.

I read Catch-22 twice in my 20s and listened to it a couple years ago, and it was only this last time that I really appreciated its traumatic hilarity. A huge part of that was due to my reading on 1950s anxiety about bureaucracy and a managed society and the loss of individuality. Listening to it in the light of those intellectual critiques—that Heller was writing about modern mass society—made all the difference for me. The lack of concrete plot is a reflection of a sense that a managed life has no narrative, that we're just on a treadmill until we die. Gotta be one of the top five novels of the second half of the 20th c.

I'll have to try it again in a few years. In the context you mention, is it meant to be allegorical like Animal Farm, or more just a general critique?

The latter. It's nowhere as obvious as what Orwell did, but it really does capture not the inanity of war than the inanity of office/corporate life (as perceived by critics of postwar life). Left and Right critics could find a lot to love about that book, especially because it was satirizing centrist postwar liberalism.

[101Walterton]

Picked up Horace Panter's Skad For Life for 3 quid yesterday in Soho

[Kory]

Picked up Horace Panter's Skad For Life for 3 quid yesterday in Soho

One of my favorite bassists. Let us know how it turns out!

[Silent Majority]

16) Parliament the Biography Vol II: Reform - Chris Bryant. Shit 'n' dull, and a very Blairy bias came to fore in this volume.

17) Civil Disobedience - Thoreau. I'm counting it.

[Dr. Medulla]

17) Civil Disobedience - Thoreau. I'm counting it.

Still inspiring.

About a week ago, I started reading Charlie Gillett's apparently classic history of rock n roll, The Sound of the City. Um, yeah, loaded with evidence, but it's more a reference text than historical argument. I found it deathly dull and shelved it. Useful for early research parameters, I imagine, but not of much interest beyond that.

So I switched to something that sounded interesting, but suspected it'd be shitty, Anti-Rock, a history of hostility and opposition to rock music. I figured it'd be lousy because I know of one of the authors, Kerry Segrave, who has published a lot of quickie histories on diverse topics (I have her histories of drive-ins and payola), and they aren't compelling. And this one is weak—really general statements, frequent errors of evidence, no argument to speak of, just a clumsy narrative. It did, however, make me think that a better book is waiting to be written on the topic, so I've sketched out a good half-dozen essay ideas on that theme, on popular music and cultural sore spots. When I'm done my current project, it's something I'll look to.