Whatcha reading?

Sweet action for kids 'n' cretins. Marjoram and capers.
Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115976
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Audio:
Image
Watched the HBO adaptation last year(?) and quite liked it. I'm close to halfway thru, and so far I think I prefer the adaptation, which conveyed well the sense of dread and options closing off. But it's been far from a disappointment.

Tub:
Image
I think I've read this and I didn't like it (and perhaps gave up early). But it's on my shelf (no recollection of buying it either) and it might be good for my rock class next year, so I'm testing it out.
"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

Kory
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 17319
Joined: 17 Jun 2008, 1:42pm
Location: In the Discosphere

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Kory »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
06 May 2021, 5:04pm
Audio:
Watched the HBO adaptation last year(?) and quite liked it. I'm close to halfway thru, and so far I think I prefer the adaptation, which conveyed well the sense of dread and options closing off. But it's been far from a disappointment.
Let me know when you're done with this, I belong to a Roth group on FB that was discussing an aspect of the book I'd like to get your take on.
"Suck our Earth dick, Martians!" —Doc

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115976
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Kory wrote:
07 May 2021, 12:29pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
06 May 2021, 5:04pm
Audio:
Watched the HBO adaptation last year(?) and quite liked it. I'm close to halfway thru, and so far I think I prefer the adaptation, which conveyed well the sense of dread and options closing off. But it's been far from a disappointment.
Let me know when you're done with this, I belong to a Roth group on FB that was discussing an aspect of the book I'd like to get your take on.
I'm probably a week or a little bit more from finishing. I only listen when I'm exercising, and it's only for about an hour, so it takes a bit to chug thru.
"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
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115976
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Gave up on that Bromell book. I now realize I have read it before and hated it then, too. It's Boomer consciousness masturbation and how popular music in the 60s shaped their wisdom. There's a cringeworthy passage where he compares young Boomers in the 50s and early 60s to segregated African Americans, possessing the double consciousness of the free yet unfree, aware of the hypocrisies of the dominant culture. Even tho he states that white suburban Boomers' material comfort was so much greater, it's a terrible comparison. So back on the shelf until I once again forget I've read it before.

Instead, we'll move on to this, which arrived yesterday.
Image
I decided I really want to do a baseball lecture of some kind, but wasn't sure about what or how. But I hit upon the idea of looking at baseball from the perspective of political economy (one of the methods by which popular culture is sometimes pursued). So I plan on looking at labour in major league baseball, considering why the modern myth of the game elevates Jackie Robinson and desegregation yet minimizes Curt Flood's efforts to control his own labour. Robinson increased the size of the labour force, but Flood sought to actually shift the balance of power to labour. Who was more radical? And does that suggest why Curt Flood is less well known to average fans?
"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

JennyB
User avatar
Mossad Van Driver
Posts: 22252
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 1:13pm
Location: Moranjortsville

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by JennyB »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
11 May 2021, 8:53am
Gave up on that Bromell book. I now realize I have read it before and hated it then, too. It's Boomer consciousness masturbation and how popular music in the 60s shaped their wisdom. There's a cringeworthy passage where he compares young Boomers in the 50s and early 60s to segregated African Americans, possessing the double consciousness of the free yet unfree, aware of the hypocrisies of the dominant culture. Even tho he states that white suburban Boomers' material comfort was so much greater, it's a terrible comparison. So back on the shelf until I once again forget I've read it before.

Instead, we'll move on to this, which arrived yesterday.
Image
I decided I really want to do a baseball lecture of some kind, but wasn't sure about what or how. But I hit upon the idea of looking at baseball from the perspective of political economy (one of the methods by which popular culture is sometimes pursued). So I plan on looking at labour in major league baseball, considering why the modern myth of the game elevates Jackie Robinson and desegregation yet minimizes Curt Flood's efforts to control his own labour. Robinson increased the size of the labour force, but Flood sought to actually shift the balance of power to labour. Who was more radical? And does that suggest why Curt Flood is less well known to average fans?
Or is it because everyone is so jealous of the Cardinals? :shifty:
Got a Rake? Sure!

IMCT: Inane Middle-Class Twats - Dr. M

" *sigh* it's right when they throw the penis pump out the window." -Hoy

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115976
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

JennyB wrote:
11 May 2021, 10:09am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
11 May 2021, 8:53am
I decided I really want to do a baseball lecture of some kind, but wasn't sure about what or how. But I hit upon the idea of looking at baseball from the perspective of political economy (one of the methods by which popular culture is sometimes pursued). So I plan on looking at labour in major league baseball, considering why the modern myth of the game elevates Jackie Robinson and desegregation yet minimizes Curt Flood's efforts to control his own labour. Robinson increased the size of the labour force, but Flood sought to actually shift the balance of power to labour. Who was more radical? And does that suggest why Curt Flood is less well known to average fans?
Or is it because everyone is so jealous of the Cardinals? :shifty:
Does jealous mean something else in Jortsville? Like cheese slices and ketchup on saltines is "pizza"?
"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

JennyB
User avatar
Mossad Van Driver
Posts: 22252
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 1:13pm
Location: Moranjortsville

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by JennyB »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
11 May 2021, 10:15am
JennyB wrote:
11 May 2021, 10:09am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
11 May 2021, 8:53am
I decided I really want to do a baseball lecture of some kind, but wasn't sure about what or how. But I hit upon the idea of looking at baseball from the perspective of political economy (one of the methods by which popular culture is sometimes pursued). So I plan on looking at labour in major league baseball, considering why the modern myth of the game elevates Jackie Robinson and desegregation yet minimizes Curt Flood's efforts to control his own labour. Robinson increased the size of the labour force, but Flood sought to actually shift the balance of power to labour. Who was more radical? And does that suggest why Curt Flood is less well known to average fans?
Or is it because everyone is so jealous of the Cardinals? :shifty:
Does jealous mean something else in Jortsville? Like cheese slices and ketchup on saltines is "pizza"?
:naughty: :lol:
Got a Rake? Sure!

IMCT: Inane Middle-Class Twats - Dr. M

" *sigh* it's right when they throw the penis pump out the window." -Hoy

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115976
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Kory wrote:
07 May 2021, 12:29pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
06 May 2021, 5:04pm
Audio:
Watched the HBO adaptation last year(?) and quite liked it. I'm close to halfway thru, and so far I think I prefer the adaptation, which conveyed well the sense of dread and options closing off. But it's been far from a disappointment.
Let me know when you're done with this, I belong to a Roth group on FB that was discussing an aspect of the book I'd like to get your take on.
Finished listening to Roth this morning, so ask away.

And I started listening to a recent release:
Image
While clearly advocating for workers' collective power, not all the examples are celebratory. Some are about failed strikes or strikes that were meant to exclude women or non-white workers. But it's a way of reorienting the history of the US into one about labour.
"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
Singer-Songwriter Nancy
Posts: 18702
Joined: 10 Nov 2008, 8:28pm
Location: South Londoner in the Midlands.

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

17) The Poor Mouth - Flann O'Brien. 1941. Kindle. O'Brien throws out a hilarious, withering satire of the Gaelic proto-Angela's Ashes of his day. It has a scene where a pig, dressed in a mans clothes, is mistaken for a gaelige speaker and the recording of his oinks are spread far and wide throughout the world as a particularly fine, unspoilt example of the language. The main character, amongst his misery, comes across some streams of whiskey. The ending was abrupt and unsatisfying, but I'll chalk that up to a reference to the type of books that inspired this one.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

Kory
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 17319
Joined: 17 Jun 2008, 1:42pm
Location: In the Discosphere

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Kory »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
18 May 2021, 10:58am
Kory wrote:
07 May 2021, 12:29pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
06 May 2021, 5:04pm
Audio:
Watched the HBO adaptation last year(?) and quite liked it. I'm close to halfway thru, and so far I think I prefer the adaptation, which conveyed well the sense of dread and options closing off. But it's been far from a disappointment.
Let me know when you're done with this, I belong to a Roth group on FB that was discussing an aspect of the book I'd like to get your take on.
Finished listening to Roth this morning, so ask away.
A lot of people in the group were criticizing what they called the rushed/pat nature of the ending. A lot of them thought that the book should have ended on a more apocalyptic note with nothing really resolved or concluded, leaving the reader with a lingering feeling of dread. However, if we take the book as I believe it was intended as an alternate history, I think the story works fine slotted into reality's continuity, and resolved as it is at the end which doesn't do much to change present day. It works perhaps more as a warning than as time-shifted sci-fi or whatever.
"Suck our Earth dick, Martians!" —Doc

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115976
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Kory wrote:
18 May 2021, 4:01pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
18 May 2021, 10:58am
Kory wrote:
07 May 2021, 12:29pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
06 May 2021, 5:04pm
Audio:
Watched the HBO adaptation last year(?) and quite liked it. I'm close to halfway thru, and so far I think I prefer the adaptation, which conveyed well the sense of dread and options closing off. But it's been far from a disappointment.
Let me know when you're done with this, I belong to a Roth group on FB that was discussing an aspect of the book I'd like to get your take on.
Finished listening to Roth this morning, so ask away.
A lot of people in the group were criticizing what they called the rushed/pat nature of the ending. A lot of them thought that the book should have ended on a more apocalyptic note with nothing really resolved or concluded, leaving the reader with a lingering feeling of dread. However, if we take the book as I believe it was intended as an alternate history, I think the story works fine slotted into reality's continuity, and resolved as it is at the end which doesn't do much to change present day. It works perhaps more as a warning than as time-shifted sci-fi or whatever.
I was wondering if your question would be about the ending, because I was struck by the sequencing of the book's final arc. So we get Evelyn's story of what happened to Lindbergh and FDR's return—the macro part—and then it switches back to the micro, with Evelyn hiding in the Roths' basement and Herman going to rescue Seldon, and then it concludes with Herman scolding Sandy about drawing the young woman and relating the Leo Frank story. And then it stops. It's quite jarring. So the macro presents something reasonably hopeful—the fascists are driven out of official power—while the micro somewhat contradicts all that, with paranoia and a suggestion that nothing has changed for America's Jews because America is still America. History rights itself in terms of the macro, while the micro suggests history didn't especially change at all? Strange sequencing and abrupt.
"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

Kory
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 17319
Joined: 17 Jun 2008, 1:42pm
Location: In the Discosphere

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Kory »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
18 May 2021, 4:35pm
Kory wrote:
18 May 2021, 4:01pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
18 May 2021, 10:58am
Kory wrote:
07 May 2021, 12:29pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
06 May 2021, 5:04pm
Audio:
Watched the HBO adaptation last year(?) and quite liked it. I'm close to halfway thru, and so far I think I prefer the adaptation, which conveyed well the sense of dread and options closing off. But it's been far from a disappointment.
Let me know when you're done with this, I belong to a Roth group on FB that was discussing an aspect of the book I'd like to get your take on.
Finished listening to Roth this morning, so ask away.
A lot of people in the group were criticizing what they called the rushed/pat nature of the ending. A lot of them thought that the book should have ended on a more apocalyptic note with nothing really resolved or concluded, leaving the reader with a lingering feeling of dread. However, if we take the book as I believe it was intended as an alternate history, I think the story works fine slotted into reality's continuity, and resolved as it is at the end which doesn't do much to change present day. It works perhaps more as a warning than as time-shifted sci-fi or whatever.
I was wondering if your question would be about the ending, because I was struck by the sequencing of the book's final arc. So we get Evelyn's story of what happened to Lindbergh and FDR's return—the macro part—and then it switches back to the micro, with Evelyn hiding in the Roths' basement and Herman going to rescue Seldon, and then it concludes with Herman scolding Sandy about drawing the young woman and relating the Leo Frank story. And then it stops. It's quite jarring. So the macro presents something reasonably hopeful—the fascists are driven out of official power—while the micro somewhat contradicts all that, with paranoia and a suggestion that nothing has changed for America's Jews because America is still America. History rights itself in terms of the macro, while the micro suggests history didn't especially change at all? Strange sequencing and abrupt.
If you thought that was weird, you should read The Counterlife. Roth does have some structuring issues sometimes, though I often appreciate them because it seems like a writer experimenting with form, even if it doesn't always come off. I'm not sure what he was thinking with Plot, but I did think it was well written overall—probably one of his breezier books, actually. It is hard not to draw parallels with reality, re: your macro/micro observation—the book had Bush in mind, but even now, Trump is gone and the attitudes of his followers remain strong. I read it as a pretty realistic representation of what that probably would have gone like.
"Suck our Earth dick, Martians!" —Doc

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115976
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Kory wrote:
18 May 2021, 4:51pm
If you thought that was weird, you should read The Counterlife. Roth does have some structuring issues sometimes, though I often appreciate them because it seems like a writer experimenting with form, even if it doesn't always come off. I'm not sure what he was thinking with Plot, but I did think it was well written overall—probably one of his breezier books, actually. It is hard not to draw parallels with reality, re: your macro/micro observation—the book had Bush in mind, but even now, Trump is gone and the attitudes of his followers remain strong. I read it as a pretty realistic representation of what that probably would have gone like.
Oh yeah, I didn't find it crazy outlandish, save for the seeming ease that the electorate switched from FDR to Lindbergh then back again. But American in the 1930s was fluid and combustible enough that both the far left and right had significant support. It's hard to exaggerate how important FDR's personality was to keeping up people's faith in liberal democracy. Political leaders do matter for encouraging and discouraging behaviours.

You recommended I Married a Communist before, so that's getting moved up the audiobook queue.
"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

Kory
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 17319
Joined: 17 Jun 2008, 1:42pm
Location: In the Discosphere

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Kory »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
18 May 2021, 5:10pm
Political leaders do matter for encouraging and discouraging behaviours.
I don't think there can be any question of that after the last four years. :twitch:

I hope you like Communist. I haven't read it in a while, but it's considered part of the trilogy that also contains American Pastoral, which I recall you saying you liked.
"Suck our Earth dick, Martians!" —Doc

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115976
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Kory wrote:
18 May 2021, 5:47pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
18 May 2021, 5:10pm
Political leaders do matter for encouraging and discouraging behaviours.
I don't think there can be any question of that after the last four years. :twitch:

I hope you like Communist. I haven't read it in a while, but it's considered part of the trilogy that also contains American Pastoral, which I recall you saying you liked.
Such a long time since I read AP, but, yeah, I liked it. The film adaptation was pretty limp, tho.
"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

Post Reply