Whatcha reading?

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

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Silent Majority wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 9:38am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 6:32am
Garth Marenghi interview promoting the book: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/ ... ror-comedy
So great to have more of the character.
I assume he'll be narrating the audio version, and I am so stoked for 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

eumaas
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by eumaas »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 10:40am
Silent Majority wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 9:38am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 6:32am
Garth Marenghi interview promoting the book: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/ ... ror-comedy
So great to have more of the character.
I assume he'll be narrating the audio version, and I am so stoked for that.
Oh hell, that would rule.
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

eumaas wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 11:43am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 10:40am
Silent Majority wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 9:38am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 6:32am
Garth Marenghi interview promoting the book: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/ ... ror-comedy
So great to have more of the character.
I assume he'll be narrating the audio version, and I am so stoked for that.
Oh hell, that would rule.
Just checked Audible: Yup, GM narrates.
"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 »

tepista wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 9:44am
Silent Majority wrote:
25 Oct 2022, 11:10am
this fun loving King who started out handsome and healthy and loved to fuck his way round England grew corpulent and too unwholesome to do any banging was also Henry VIII's maternal grandfather.
I had the read that twice. "He did WHAT to Henry the VIII's grandpa? ... Oh, OK" I just saw banging and also really close to each other.
He probably did bang himself, early on, before becoming king
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Silent Majority
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Location: South Londoner in the Midlands.

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 10:40am
Silent Majority wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 9:38am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 6:32am
Garth Marenghi interview promoting the book: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/ ... ror-comedy
So great to have more of the character.
I assume he'll be narrating the audio version, and I am so stoked for that.
Fantastic!
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

eumaas
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by eumaas »

Silent Majority wrote:
31 Oct 2022, 3:13am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 10:40am
Silent Majority wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 9:38am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Oct 2022, 6:32am
Garth Marenghi interview promoting the book: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/ ... ror-comedy
So great to have more of the character.
I assume he'll be narrating the audio version, and I am so stoked for that.
Fantastic!
just preordered it!
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

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 »

125) The Empty House and Other Stories - Algernon Blackwood. Audiobook. 1923. These didn't make much of an impression, nice atmospheres, decent spot to hang out, I remember nothing about it a week or so later.

126) Into Every Generation A Slayer: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts -Evan Ross Katz. Audiobook. 2022. The author is a bit of a diva in the best sense, a big personality, enthusiastic queer guy who wears his heart on his sleeve and has starfucked his way into some high profile interviews. The book was conceived as a love letter to a series (which I would consider as having aged really quite poorly, despite my nostalgia for it) but in the midst of writing, all the rumours about old Jossy Whedon turned out to be true so we end up with half making of book, half a tome on the misuse of power and its rippling effects. Not recommended unless you liked or still like Buffy because it's put on quite a pedestal here.

127) Cannabis: Seeing Through the Smoke - Professor David Nutt. Audiobook. You got to know what's going in. Strange to learn how much negative propaganda I'd internalised with no basis in science. The writer was a government adviser on drugs til Labour sacked him for making sensible suggestions about cannabis. Some heartbreaking moments with young people denied the only medicine that can improve their lives due to the Daily Mail running this country.

128) Croydon Past - John Gent. 2002. Hardback. Research. Typical local history book, heavy on photos and conservative, things were better in the past ideals. Invaluable, and not just for its bibliography. Serviceable prose.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


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eumaas
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by eumaas »

Silent Majority wrote:
08 Nov 2022, 12:35am
125) The Empty House and Other Stories - Algernon Blackwood. Audiobook. 1923. These didn't make much of an impression, nice atmospheres, decent spot to hang out, I remember nothing about it a week or so later.
Have you read Aickman?
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

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 »

eumaas wrote:
08 Nov 2022, 9:27am
Silent Majority wrote:
08 Nov 2022, 12:35am
125) The Empty House and Other Stories - Algernon Blackwood. Audiobook. 1923. These didn't make much of an impression, nice atmospheres, decent spot to hang out, I remember nothing about it a week or so later.
Have you read Aickman?
Not yet; got a collection called the Unsettled Dust lined up on the shortest list.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

Silent Majority
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Joined: 10 Nov 2008, 8:28pm
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

129) Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England - Thomas Penn. 2011. Audiobook, last chapter read on Kindle as failed to download. A re-read. This focuses on the solidified, later years of Henry VII's reign and the main character is a compelling one, as he sets the stage for his back-up, Trumplike son to succeed him. It's made to feel like a police state, with the King very cleverly maintaining his power via financial means, by making himself the richest and fining the nobles for infractions, keeping them indebted to him, a wise reaction to the coming capitalist settlement, whereas the previous few Kings had attempted to rule in the old feudal fashion in a changing world, and failed. The final chapter, which also failed to download on my first listen, so is news to me, had Henry VII's chancellors harried and scapegoated for his failures after the Prince's coronation and makes the earliest part of Henry VIII's reign read a little like the last act of Goodfellas. Goode Fellowes.

130) Flying Colours - CS Forester. Audiobook. 1938. Shit, this is actually a good novel! In taking Captain Hornblower from his usual setting, glowering up and down a boat and having him escape from captivity, stealing back a British ship from the French and being court martialed for surrendering in battle against impossible odds, you have far more of a single journey for the character than many of the preceding novels. In fact, it's become clear that all but the first three written chronologically (of which this is the third) were intended as a discreet trilogy with everything else I've read to date being a kind of midcentury fan service.

131) The Philosophy of Modern Song - Bob Dylan. Audiobook. 2022. This is the day that you want to spend with Dylan, pottering around his territory as he shares his passions and insights. He's so wry even when lecturing on something he clearly lives for. Bob Dylan is as opinionated as any other music lover and as ornery as an octagenerian has the right to be (he doesn't care for the phrase 'OK Boomer,' which is very sweet). There are moments of beauty in his writing as heart stopping as any Italian poet from the 13th century. The most moving fact, brought up to illustrate the fact that knowing more about an artist can rob music of its universality, is that Save the Last Dance For Me was written by a wheelchair user waiting, inspired by waiting for his wife on a night out. If you like this stuff, by which I mean songs, I strongly recommend this book
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Silent Majority wrote:
09 Nov 2022, 1:00pm
131) The Philosophy of Modern Song - Bob Dylan. Audiobook. 2022. This is the day that you want to spend with Dylan, pottering around his territory as he shares his passions and insights. He's so wry even when lecturing on something he clearly lives for. Bob Dylan is as opinionated as any other music lover and as ornery as an octagenerian has the right to be (he doesn't care for the phrase 'OK Boomer,' which is very sweet). There are moments of beauty in his writing as heart stopping as any Italian poet from the 13th century. The most moving fact, brought up to illustrate the fact that knowing more about an artist can rob music of its universality, is that Save the Last Dance For Me was written by a wheelchair user waiting, inspired by waiting for his wife on a night out. If you like this stuff, by which I mean songs, I strongly recommend this book
Walking to school, I got up to his essay on disregarding the wisdom of elders. Which, okay, in the abstract I agree with, but complaining about “OK Boomer” ignores the social reality of how those elders are behaving, how much their behaviour generates contempt from young people. It’s a two-way street. Show that your accumulated wisdom can be beneficial to youth by acting in ways generate trust and respect.

I have one other sort-of critique about the book, but I want to finish it first to make sure he doesn’t curveball something at the end.

edit: I enjoyed his local news editorial "why don't they make movies like that anymore?" piece. A weird, grouchy old man item.
"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 »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
10 Nov 2022, 2:18pm
Silent Majority wrote:
09 Nov 2022, 1:00pm
131) The Philosophy of Modern Song - Bob Dylan. Audiobook. 2022. This is the day that you want to spend with Dylan, pottering around his territory as he shares his passions and insights. He's so wry even when lecturing on something he clearly lives for. Bob Dylan is as opinionated as any other music lover and as ornery as an octagenerian has the right to be (he doesn't care for the phrase 'OK Boomer,' which is very sweet). There are moments of beauty in his writing as heart stopping as any Italian poet from the 13th century. The most moving fact, brought up to illustrate the fact that knowing more about an artist can rob music of its universality, is that Save the Last Dance For Me was written by a wheelchair user waiting, inspired by waiting for his wife on a night out. If you like this stuff, by which I mean songs, I strongly recommend this book
Walking to school, I got up to his essay on disregarding the wisdom of elders. Which, okay, in the abstract I agree with, but complaining about “OK Boomer” ignores the social reality of how those elders are behaving, how much their behaviour generates contempt from young people. It’s a two-way street. Show that your accumulated wisdom can be beneficial to youth by acting in ways generate trust and respect.

I have one other sort-of critique about the book, but I want to finish it first to make sure he doesn’t curveball something at the end.

edit: I enjoyed his local news editorial "why don't they make movies like that anymore?" piece. A weird, grouchy old man item.
Agreed, I wouldn't call those moments when he takes down his freak flag disappointing, as they're completely understandable, but there is a sense that he really has the capacity to be more thoughtful and incisive about the issues facing people younger than sixty. He is right, though, from his side and I am right from mine.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

132) Richard III - William Shakespeare. Play, read on Kindle. 1592-ish. What a superb, swaggering play that goes the long way round to say the Tudors rock. There's scarcely a better villain than Shakespeare's King Richard III, perfect in his resentment, machiavellian pursuit of his goals, whingeing, pathetic in defeat. Much more alive on the page than any filmed version, this is just a great, fulfilling and entertaining experience. It flexes and hypnotizes like a long, sinewy serpent.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

Silent Majority
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Joined: 10 Nov 2008, 8:28pm
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Great: a long arse Teddy Kennedy biography's second and final part is about to be shortly released. Come on now.
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Is ten times worse than prison


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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Silent Majority wrote:
14 Nov 2022, 3:37pm
Great: a long arse Teddy Kennedy biography's second and final part is about to be shortly released. Come on now.
Image
Classic and devastating comedy.
"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

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