Whatcha reading?
-
Silent Majority
- Singer-Songwriter Nancy
- Posts: 18756
- Joined: 10 Nov 2008, 8:28pm
- Location: South Londoner in the Midlands.
Re: Whatcha reading?
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.
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.
- Dr. Medulla
- Atheistic Epileptic
- Posts: 116684
- Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
- Location: Straight Banana, Idaho
Re: Whatcha reading?
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.Silent Majority wrote: ↑15 Mar 2023, 4:15am20) 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.
"I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back in Whittier, they're not much bigger than two meters.'" - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft
-
Silent Majority
- Singer-Songwriter Nancy
- Posts: 18756
- Joined: 10 Nov 2008, 8:28pm
- Location: South Londoner in the Midlands.
Re: Whatcha reading?
We all got up to japes with major historical figures in our youth, Estonian.Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑15 Mar 2023, 6:33amWhen 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.Silent Majority wrote: ↑15 Mar 2023, 4:15am20) 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.
- Dr. Medulla
- Atheistic Epileptic
- Posts: 116684
- Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
- Location: Straight Banana, Idaho
Re: Whatcha reading?
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.Olaf wrote: ↑08 Mar 2023, 4:47pmWell, is it?Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑27 Feb 2023, 7:28pm
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.
"I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back in Whittier, they're not much bigger than two meters.'" - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft
Re: Whatcha reading?
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.Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑15 Mar 2023, 8:41pmFinished 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.Olaf wrote: ↑08 Mar 2023, 4:47pmWell, is it?Dr. Medulla wrote: ↑27 Feb 2023, 7:28pm
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.
Who pfaffed the pfaff? Who got pfaffed tonight?
Re: Whatcha reading?
Also, all you need to know about Düsseldorf ...
- Attachments
-
- 233947_1388495370_300.jpg (18.46 KiB) Viewed 1164 times
Who pfaffed the pfaff? Who got pfaffed tonight?
-
Silent Majority
- Singer-Songwriter Nancy
- Posts: 18756
- Joined: 10 Nov 2008, 8:28pm
- Location: South Londoner in the Midlands.
Re: Whatcha reading?
It reads "Kölner."
Kölner = somebody from Cologne
Who pfaffed the pfaff? Who got pfaffed tonight?
-
Silent Majority
- Singer-Songwriter Nancy
- Posts: 18756
- Joined: 10 Nov 2008, 8:28pm
- Location: South Londoner in the Midlands.
Re: Whatcha reading?
I will be making many a joke at the expense of the filth Kolners, then.
-
Low Down Low
- Unknown Immortal
- Posts: 5025
- Joined: 21 Aug 2014, 9:08am
Re: Whatcha reading?
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.
- tepista
- Foul-Mouthed Werewolf
- Posts: 37917
- Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 11:25am
- Location: Livin on a fault line, Waiting on the big one
Re: Whatcha reading?
We reach the parts other combos cannot reach
We beach the beachheads other armies cannot beach
We speak the tongues other mouths cannot speak
We beach the beachheads other armies cannot beach
We speak the tongues other mouths cannot speak