Whatcha reading?

Sweet action for kids 'n' cretins. Marjoram and capers.
Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

17) Cinema Speculation - Quentin Tarantino. Audiobook. 2022. I like this man in spite of himself. I always love hearing him talk about films and I don't think he's allowed a bad one into his official body of work. Unlike a lot of American directors from after the 1970s, he cares about the images onscreen. This is a good book to replicate being cornered by a monomaniacal lunatic vent about their hyperfixation and share their opinions at you. Which I love, as an experience, so long as I find their subject interesting. Q reads enough of the book - two very short sections bookending the essays - to use his arse-clenchingly embarrassing Black Guy voice and presumably to get a performance royalty on the audiobook. Inessential fun which has lead me to racing some of those classics I've yet to get to up my list.

18) The Boy, The Mole, the Fox, and the Horse - Charlie Mackesy. Hardback. 2019. My mum sent me this and asked me to read it. Lots of kind affirmations with drawings of animals.

19) Ghost Stories - M.R. James. Paperback. Last written stories in 1925. This my shit, this my shit. Reading this stuff is an unbridled joy to me, uncomplicated, the complete escape. He was a master of his game.

20) The Shortest History of Germany - James Hawes. Paperback. 2017. I'm going to visit head office in Germany, near Düsseldorf, later next month, and wanted some historical context for the country beyond... the obvious. I can imagine exactly how it'll go: a 26 year old marketing executive will be sitting with me and I'll say, isn't it interesting how the River Elbe has traditionally been the faultline in politics for millennia, much like the Mason Dixon line in the United States? And she'll say yes, and then we'll be great mates and share a black forest gateaux. The book is aggressively centrist, cursing Hegel for his totalitarian analysis, but digestible and quite useful for the reason I picked it up.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Silent Majority wrote:
15 Mar 2023, 4:15am
20) The Shortest History of Germany - James Hawes. Paperback. 2017. I'm going to visit head office in Germany, near Düsseldorf, later next month, and wanted some historical context for the country beyond... the obvious. I can imagine exactly how it'll go: a 26 year old marketing executive will be sitting with me and I'll say, isn't it interesting how the River Elbe has traditionally been the faultline in politics for millennia, much like the Mason Dixon line in the United States? And she'll say yes, and then we'll be great mates and share a black forest gateaux. The book is aggressively centrist, cursing Hegel for his totalitarian analysis, but digestible and quite useful for the reason I picked it up.
When I was an undergrad, the resident German historian (who was actually from Estonia originally) was a Bismarck expert (BEEZ-mawk, super heavy on the first syllable, in his voice). In one lecture he spoke of Bismarck as a young man, as if they were college buddies, and how one night at a party on the two or third story of a home, a drunk Bismarck knocked a bottle of out the window, which struck a cop below. The cop tore up the stairs to arrest the culprit, to which Bismarck replied—and the historian's whole body started convulsing with laughter at the thought—"At least the bottle was empty!" Historian roars with laughter; students wonder why that's the punchline.
"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

Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
15 Mar 2023, 6:33am
Silent Majority wrote:
15 Mar 2023, 4:15am
20) The Shortest History of Germany - James Hawes. Paperback. 2017. I'm going to visit head office in Germany, near Düsseldorf, later next month, and wanted some historical context for the country beyond... the obvious. I can imagine exactly how it'll go: a 26 year old marketing executive will be sitting with me and I'll say, isn't it interesting how the River Elbe has traditionally been the faultline in politics for millennia, much like the Mason Dixon line in the United States? And she'll say yes, and then we'll be great mates and share a black forest gateaux. The book is aggressively centrist, cursing Hegel for his totalitarian analysis, but digestible and quite useful for the reason I picked it up.
When I was an undergrad, the resident German historian (who was actually from Estonia originally) was a Bismarck expert (BEEZ-mawk, super heavy on the first syllable, in his voice). In one lecture he spoke of Bismarck as a young man, as if they were college buddies, and how one night at a party on the two or third story of a home, a drunk Bismarck knocked a bottle of out the window, which struck a cop below. The cop tore up the stairs to arrest the culprit, to which Bismarck replied—and the historian's whole body started convulsing with laughter at the thought—"At least the bottle was empty!" Historian roars with laughter; students wonder why that's the punchline.
We all got up to japes with major historical figures in our youth, Estonian.
a lifetime serving one machine
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Olaf wrote:
08 Mar 2023, 4:47pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
27 Feb 2023, 7:28pm
Image
Mathias Haeussler, Inventing Elvis. Part of my quest to find a pre-Beatles rock book for my class next year. This also has the advantage of being fairly short (getting students to read anything more than 200 pages is a struggle). Fingers crossed it's something that I can work with.
Well, is it?
Finished it today and, yup, I'll be trying it out next fall. Elvis' dominant public image—from early rock n roller to GI to actor to touring performer—is presented as a cipher for both America's internal tensions and its representation in the wider world. This can all be critiqued as cherrypicking evidence to fit the narrative of making Elvis the shifting chameleon who somehow still fits something central about American identity at any given point, but there's still plenty here to provoke discussion, which is my main interest.
"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

revbob
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by gkbill »

revbob wrote:
15 Mar 2023, 10:05pm
Hello,

This ignores the obvious solution - turn up the stereo.

Olaf
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Olaf »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
15 Mar 2023, 8:41pm
Olaf wrote:
08 Mar 2023, 4:47pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
27 Feb 2023, 7:28pm
Image
Mathias Haeussler, Inventing Elvis. Part of my quest to find a pre-Beatles rock book for my class next year. This also has the advantage of being fairly short (getting students to read anything more than 200 pages is a struggle). Fingers crossed it's something that I can work with.
Well, is it?
Finished it today and, yup, I'll be trying it out next fall. Elvis' dominant public image—from early rock n roller to GI to actor to touring performer—is presented as a cipher for both America's internal tensions and its representation in the wider world. This can all be critiqued as cherrypicking evidence to fit the narrative of making Elvis the shifting chameleon who somehow still fits something central about American identity at any given point, but there's still plenty here to provoke discussion, which is my main interest.
Thanks for the review, I think I'll give it a go. Sounds like an entertaining read, though I'll probably disagree with most of it.
Who pfaffed the pfaff? Who got pfaffed tonight?

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Olaf »

Also, all you need to know about Düsseldorf ...
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Who pfaffed the pfaff? Who got pfaffed tonight?

Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Olaf wrote:
16 Mar 2023, 4:22am
Also, all you need to know about Düsseldorf ...
My kind of town.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


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revbob
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by revbob »

Olaf wrote:
16 Mar 2023, 4:22am
Also, all you need to know about Düsseldorf ...

Raus means out (I learned that from Slime).

Whats the top part of the shirt read?

Olaf
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Olaf »

revbob wrote:
16 Mar 2023, 7:44am
Olaf wrote:
16 Mar 2023, 4:22am
Also, all you need to know about Düsseldorf ...

Raus means out (I learned that from Slime).

Whats the top part of the shirt read?
It reads "Kölner."

Kölner = somebody from Cologne
Who pfaffed the pfaff? Who got pfaffed tonight?

revbob
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by revbob »

Olaf wrote:
16 Mar 2023, 8:18am
revbob wrote:
16 Mar 2023, 7:44am
Olaf wrote:
16 Mar 2023, 4:22am
Also, all you need to know about Düsseldorf ...

Raus means out (I learned that from Slime).

Whats the top part of the shirt read?
It reads "Kölner."

Kölner = somebody from Cologne
Thank you sir

Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

I will be making many a joke at the expense of the filth Kolners, then.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Low Down Low »

Just finished White Riot by Joe Thomas which I saw on the library shelf in the library and had to check out by dint of the title alone. Turns out it's a crime novel set in 70s and 80s Hackney to the backdrop of Rock against Racism and the rise and evolution of punk. Reasonably interesting I would say, bit David Peace-lite perhaps if you're into that sort of thing. First part of a trilogy and I feel I'm kinda locked in to go the distance but only moderately enthused about it.

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by tepista »

Image
We reach the parts other combos cannot reach
We beach the beachheads other armies cannot beach
We speak the tongues other mouths cannot speak

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