Whatcha reading?

[tepista]

114) 100 Poems From the Chinese - Kenneth Roxroth. Kindle. 1956. A beautiful set of very personal translations of various Chinese poets from prior to 1200 AD. Specifically chosen for to their universal applicability, it's wonderful to feel the same as an extremely long dead staring out his window in the morning, or going out to see friends, or getting drunk and melancholy alone, or mourning their loved ones. We're the same, you see.

Was it a countdown? Number 1 has to be the one about peeing in the Coke.

I think number one was about the timing of a dental appointment.

Did that one rhyme?

[Silent Majority]

114) 100 Poems From the Chinese - Kenneth Roxroth. Kindle. 1956. A beautiful set of very personal translations of various Chinese poets from prior to 1200 AD. Specifically chosen for to their universal applicability, it's wonderful to feel the same as an extremely long dead staring out his window in the morning, or going out to see friends, or getting drunk and melancholy alone, or mourning their loved ones. We're the same, you see.

Was it a countdown? Number 1 has to be the one about peeing in the Coke.

I think number one was about the timing of a dental appointment.

Did that one rhyme?

The receptionist is Sue, flirty
I'm seeing the dentist at -

[Low Down Low]

Say, does anyone—most particularly Silent Majority—know anything about Andrew Doyle? He's just published a book, The New Puritans, which attacks the culture of social justice. The description of the book reads like standard right-wing "no, you're the real racist" bullshit, but I was surprised to see him described as part of the Corbyn wing of Labour. Can anyone explain the possible confusion?

No idea why he's been described as part of the Corbyn wing. Typical half-fash establishment figures, with useful prejudice where thinking should.go.

Okay, so he's part of the wretched pseudo-left. Which is what the book's description made me suspect.

I only remember him from his satirical Titania McGrath character that popped up a few years ago and was so painfully unfunny, i pretty much steered him a wide berth ever since. I dont know what wing he associates himself with, but when your main employers are GB News, Spiked and Spectator magazine, I'm thinking on the balance of probabilities, Corbynism isn't and has never been your spiritual home.

[Dr. Medulla]

Say, does anyone—most particularly Silent Majority—know anything about Andrew Doyle? He's just published a book, The New Puritans, which attacks the culture of social justice. The description of the book reads like standard right-wing "no, you're the real racist" bullshit, but I was surprised to see him described as part of the Corbyn wing of Labour. Can anyone explain the possible confusion?

No idea why he's been described as part of the Corbyn wing. Typical half-fash establishment figures, with useful prejudice where thinking should.go.

Okay, so he's part of the wretched pseudo-left. Which is what the book's description made me suspect.

I only remember him from his satirical Titania McGrath character that popped up a few years ago and was so painfully unfunny, i pretty much steered him a wide berth ever since. I dont know what wing he associates himself with, but when your main employers are GB News, Spiked and Spectator magazine, I'm thinking on the balance of probabilities, Corbynism isn't and has never been your spiritual home.

This clears things up a lot—thanks, fellers. His identification as someone on the left is horseshit.

[eumaas]

Read all of Aickman's stories. Next up, rereading M. R. James and reading the Course of the Heart by M. John Harrison for the first time.

[tepista]

Read all of Aickman's stories.

very inspiring

[eumaas]

Read all of Aickman's stories.

very inspiring

a horror writer, because i remeber halloween
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Aickman

[tepista]

a horror writer, because i remeber halloween
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Aickman

I'm surprised with that many stories there's not very many film/tv adaptations! sounds cool though

[Dr. Medulla]

Audio:

Radley Balko, Rise of the Warrior Cop. Read this when it came out but came across the audio version and decided to revisit. Funny how all these conservatives who masturbate to constitutional originalism don't worry about the fears the drafters had of standing armies in civil society, which is what policing has become.

Bedtime:

Sarah Churchwell, The Wrath to Come. Learned of this via a podcast my sister suggested I listen to. I wasn't fully sold by the podcast, but I liked the premise of the book enough to seek it out.

[Dr. Medulla]

[Silent Majority]

116) The Worm and His Kings - Hailey Piper. Kindle. 2020. A frankly incredible novella about a homeless trans woman who goes looking for her girlfriend and gets pulled into a giant worm worshipping cult. I loved the whole journey, but the purity, audacity and imagination of the ending has knocked all the night's useless melancholy from me

[revbob]

This seems interesting, anyone read it?

https://www.thisiswhatitsoundslike.com/

[Silent Majority]

117) The Inimitable Jeeves - PG Wodehouse. Audiobook. 1923. My three simultaneous layers of thought when reading Jeeves & Wooster.

i) This is pure escapism. I may as well be reading an elf filled fantasy novel. No real world problems, what bliss in these so troubled times.

ii) I loathe these upper class twits. I wish a paramilitary communist cell would burst in at this point and noisily decorate the walls with the blood of these leeches. Jeeves had better defect to where his class interests lie.

iii) I wish *I* had a butler

118) The Book Business: What Everybody Needs to Know - Mike Shatzkin and Robert Paris Riger. Audiobook. 2019. Factual but not quite dry, quick but comprehensive. If you want to learn more about modern publishing - as I do - you can't go wrong with this one. One of the writers died just before publication but I'm certain that's no comment on his opinion of the work.

119) The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets - Simon Singh. Paperback. 2013. I'm a maths fucking idiot. At best, I've got the understanding of a fairly bright 12 year old. Which is about the time I started skipping school to hang out at home and watch Simpsons videos, now I think about it. Anyway, I'm planning on picking the subject up to stave off brain atrophy for as long as possible and this is a good book to get into it, explicable, enthusiastic, and quite well written. There's more dipping from the Shit Years than I'd care for and the writer loses the courage of his conviction and just starts writing about Futurama ere long, but it did what I needed it to.

120) Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley - Peter Guralnick. Audiobook. 1995. Haven't read this since I got the paperback from a used record shop as a teenager so much of it was new to me, however familiar the story. Gracefully composed, lovingly - obsessively - researched, this book goes from Elvis' birth up to his leaving for Germany. Too famous at too young an age, you get the portraits of an indulged boy harnessing his talent, expressing his loneliness, and attempting to live in a moral fashion in the white heat of money, fame, and power. A must for any Elvis fan. Required reading. So exhaustive, I will need a break before picking up the next and last volume of biography.

[revbob]

This seems interesting, anyone read it?

https://www.thisiswhatitsoundslike.com/

Ive dipped my toe into the audio book pool and have started with this as a freebee.

[Silent Majority]

This seems interesting, anyone read it?

https://www.thisiswhatitsoundslike.com/

Ive dipped my toe into the audio book pool and have started with this as a freebee.

Cool - will be interested in your take