Whatcha reading?

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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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21) The Late Shift - Bill Carter. Kindle. I am so all about US late night TV and staying up late to watch Letterman on ITV4 as a teenager doesn't quite explain it. This is a great book for me, one of my favourites this year. It details Leno and Dave's attempts to grab Carson's crown and the mad executive decisions around 1992 - 94. Bill Goldman's Nobody Knows Anything is clearly true of all businesses.
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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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22) Pet Sematary - Stephen King. Audiobook, read very well by the guy who played Dexter the nice serial killer. I was pleased to read in a recent interview that King himself had listened to this recording himself while walking his dogs to get reacquainted with his novel. He also started that interview by crooning the great Ramones song based on the original movie. This book is absolutely littered with the Ramones. I should have read it as a teenager. I came to it after watching the new remake and it's classic, creepy King which devolves in the last act in an entirely different way to the 2019 film. Great stuff otherwise, with King's approach being by turns folksy, vulgar, head-y and straightforward when appropriate. The dude truly is a master.
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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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23) Gang of Four's Entertainment! by Kevin Dettmar. Kindle. For such a short book, this was an awful slog. I've said elsewhere that a focus on misheard lyrics is a meaningless waste of word count - what the hell does it mean to me what the author has been failing to comprehend for years? - and the essays on the individual songs provide none of the details I'm interested in. I respected rather than enjoyed the digressions into Marxist and situationist theory, but I can read Debord for myself, thanks. Because I've listened to London Calling too much, this is probably my favourite album. I find the book is unworthy. Not recommended.
Last edited by Silent Majority on 12 May 2019, 6:42am, edited 1 time in total.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Silent Majority wrote:
12 May 2019, 5:51am
23) Gang of Four's Entertainment! by Kevin Dettmar. Kindle. For such a short book, this was an awful slog. I've said elsewhere that a focus on misheard lyrics is a meaningless waste of word count - what the hell does it mean to me what the author has been failing to comprehend for years? - and the essays on the individual songs provide none of the details I'm interested in. I respected rather than enjoyed the digressions into Marxist and situationist theory, but I can read Debord fotr myself, thanks. Because I've listened to London Callinv too much, this is probably my favourite album. I find the book is unworthy. Not recommended.
I wonder if writers, especially academics, treat these books as indulgent solo projects. Short blasts of unconventional analysis and presentation. It scratches a creative itch but it isn't a high stakes effort either. Which isn't to say we're judging them improperly, but that the odds are higher than normal going in that the experience won't satisfy. As I said earlier, probably two-thirds of these books that I've read have disappointed.
"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

dave202
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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'Barcelona' by Robert Hughes. Straight forward history but has a good bit about the Citadella. There is now a museum built upon part of this site and when I was there there was an exhibition about censorship in rock and pop under Franco's dictatorship. Seemed like a couple of bad things were under the same roof.

dave202
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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'Barcelona' by Robert Hughes. Straight forward history but has a good bit about the Citadella. There is now a museum built upon part of this site and when I was there there was an exhibition about censorship in rock and pop under Franco's dictatorship. Seemed like a couple of bad things were under the same roof.

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by dave202 »

dave202 wrote:
12 May 2019, 12:23pm
'Barcelona' by Robert Hughes. Straight forward history but has a good bit about the Citadella. There is now a museum built upon part of this site and when I was there there was an exhibition about censorship in rock and pop under Franco's dictatorship. Seemed like a couple of bad things were under the same roof.
Oops. A mistake, or so good I read it twice.

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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dave202 wrote:
12 May 2019, 12:22pm
'Barcelona' by Robert Hughes. Straight forward history but has a good bit about the Citadella. There is now a museum built upon part of this site and when I was there there was an exhibition about censorship in rock and pop under Franco's dictatorship. Seemed like a couple of bad things were under the same roof.
If it's the same Hughes, I've read a couple of his books. One about early European presence in Australia, and the other a jeremiad against American popular culture. I might be more sympathetic to the latter nowadays, but at the time it seemed like an old man ranting about those damned kids.

Tub book starting tomorrow:
Image
Put Kasson's book about Coney Island back on the shelf and grabbed this one. Have I read it before? I don't think so and I don't know how I acquired this. What the hell, I'll give it a spin.
"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:
12 May 2019, 6:24am
Silent Majority wrote:
12 May 2019, 5:51am
23) Gang of Four's Entertainment! by Kevin Dettmar. Kindle. For such a short book, this was an awful slog. I've said elsewhere that a focus on misheard lyrics is a meaningless waste of word count - what the hell does it mean to me what the author has been failing to comprehend for years? - and the essays on the individual songs provide none of the details I'm interested in. I respected rather than enjoyed the digressions into Marxist and situationist theory, but I can read Debord fotr myself, thanks. Because I've listened to London Callinv too much, this is probably my favourite album. I find the book is unworthy. Not recommended.
I wonder if writers, especially academics, treat these books as indulgent solo projects. Short blasts of unconventional analysis and presentation. It scratches a creative itch but it isn't a high stakes effort either. Which isn't to say we're judging them improperly, but that the odds are higher than normal going in that the experience won't satisfy. As I said earlier, probably two-thirds of these books that I've read have disappointed.
I guess the limited target audience inbuilt let's them do a bit more intellectual wanking than a commercial pitch. Pity, as it also means it'll likely be one of the last words on the topic.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Silent Majority wrote:
12 May 2019, 2:55pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
12 May 2019, 6:24am
Silent Majority wrote:
12 May 2019, 5:51am
23) Gang of Four's Entertainment! by Kevin Dettmar. Kindle. For such a short book, this was an awful slog. I've said elsewhere that a focus on misheard lyrics is a meaningless waste of word count - what the hell does it mean to me what the author has been failing to comprehend for years? - and the essays on the individual songs provide none of the details I'm interested in. I respected rather than enjoyed the digressions into Marxist and situationist theory, but I can read Debord fotr myself, thanks. Because I've listened to London Callinv too much, this is probably my favourite album. I find the book is unworthy. Not recommended.
I wonder if writers, especially academics, treat these books as indulgent solo projects. Short blasts of unconventional analysis and presentation. It scratches a creative itch but it isn't a high stakes effort either. Which isn't to say we're judging them improperly, but that the odds are higher than normal going in that the experience won't satisfy. As I said earlier, probably two-thirds of these books that I've read have disappointed.
I guess the limited target audience inbuilt let's them do a bit more intellectual wanking than a commercial pitch. Pity, as it also means it'll likely be one of the last words on the topic.
I'll get sucked in again and again. If someone does another book on a Wire album or something by Swans or PiL? Automatic buy. That's the horrible thing about these books—if you're a fan of an album, you feel you have to read a book dedicated to that album.
"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?

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24) The Dilemmas of Lenin - Tariq Ali. Kindle. First of all, this is beautifully written. The prose is etched in charcoal. A very distinctive, discursive almost biography of Lenin that has an excellent side in women's roles and contribution to the Russian Revolution. Absolutely apologia, it seeks to excuse him for the structure he helped build by pointing out that he knew it was shit as he was dying. However, it's well argued and appealingly uncompromising.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Silent Majority wrote:
16 May 2019, 12:30pm
24) The Dilemmas of Lenin - Tariq Ali. Kindle. First of all, this is beautifully written. The prose is etched in charcoal. A very distinctive, discursive almost biography of Lenin that has an excellent side in women's roles and contribution to the Russian Revolution. Absolutely apologia, it seeks to excuse him for the structure he helped build by pointing out that he knew it was shit as he was dying. However, it's well argued and appealingly uncompromising.
I remember back in the 80s, Phil Donahue had on a guest who was a friend of Lenin's—I want to say it was Armand Hammer, but I can't be sure—who said that Lenin told him, months before he died, that this wasn't working, that there were too many elements interested in recreating tsarist power for its own sake. Who can say whether Lenin said or thought that, but it's interesting speculation that he was aware that the enemy was within.
"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:
16 May 2019, 1:08pm
Silent Majority wrote:
16 May 2019, 12:30pm
24) The Dilemmas of Lenin - Tariq Ali. Kindle. First of all, this is beautifully written. The prose is etched in charcoal. A very distinctive, discursive almost biography of Lenin that has an excellent side in women's roles and contribution to the Russian Revolution. Absolutely apologia, it seeks to excuse him for the structure he helped build by pointing out that he knew it was shit as he was dying. However, it's well argued and appealingly uncompromising.
I remember back in the 80s, Phil Donahue had on a guest who was a friend of Lenin's—I want to say it was Armand Hammer, but I can't be sure—who said that Lenin told him, months before he died, that this wasn't working, that there were too many elements interested in recreating tsarist power for its own sake. Who can say whether Lenin said or thought that, but it's interesting speculation that he was aware that the enemy was within.
Ali actually quotes Lenin extensively on the subject.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Silent Majority wrote:
16 May 2019, 1:44pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
16 May 2019, 1:08pm
Silent Majority wrote:
16 May 2019, 12:30pm
24) The Dilemmas of Lenin - Tariq Ali. Kindle. First of all, this is beautifully written. The prose is etched in charcoal. A very distinctive, discursive almost biography of Lenin that has an excellent side in women's roles and contribution to the Russian Revolution. Absolutely apologia, it seeks to excuse him for the structure he helped build by pointing out that he knew it was shit as he was dying. However, it's well argued and appealingly uncompromising.
I remember back in the 80s, Phil Donahue had on a guest who was a friend of Lenin's—I want to say it was Armand Hammer, but I can't be sure—who said that Lenin told him, months before he died, that this wasn't working, that there were too many elements interested in recreating tsarist power for its own sake. Who can say whether Lenin said or thought that, but it's interesting speculation that he was aware that the enemy was within.
Ali actually quotes Lenin extensively on the subject.
Lenin actually put pen to paper to that effect? Didn't know that.
"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 »

25) Earth Vs Everybody - John Swartzwelder. Kindle. Kind of like as if the Simpsons best writer wrote a Futurama episode.
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Is ten times worse than prison


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