Whatcha reading?

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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Flex wrote:
17 Nov 2022, 11:37am
Was quite excited to learn this morning that PM Press is going to be publishing a history of Anti-Racist Action and have a Kickstarter for it here:


I imagine I'm not the only one who got involved in left activism through ARA - and that it was a crucial, genuine nexus between politics and music. I suspect this will be a must-read.

They've already met their goal but have a stretch goal going for the next few days to get more copies of the book printed.
Very cool looking.
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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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137) Planet of Giants - Terrance Dicks. Audiobook. 1990, based on the 1964 Dr. Who serial, read by Carole Ann Ford. Something particularly inessential about this, which I've read prior to watching the TV show. There's nothing wrong with it - its environmental heart is in the right place and the plot holds the attention all the way through. But whether from Dicks' adaptation or the original material, I have a sense of a race to the finish line, a grateful slumping the the story concludes. Looking forward to the oversized 60s special effects, Borrower style when I watch the show this month.

138) Trout Fishing In America - Richard Brautigan. Audiobook. 1967. This was a great book and one I will have to read in text to fully appreciate. I want to savour the sentences and the diversions. Funny and profound feeling.

139) Beware! R.L. Stine Picks His Favorite Scary Stories by R. L. Stine. Audiobook. 2002. Used to love Goosebumps as a kid. Tried to pick up a favourite late last year, the Haunted Mask, and it was unreadable shit. Stine writes three of his favourites here, one mediocre original, one unnecessary rewriting of Bram Stoker's The Judge' House and, his best, a retelling of the Golem of Prague. Much of the chosen stuff is varying shades of Ray Bradburyisms, including a story by Ray Bradbury. A cool EC Comics thing and a couple of humourous poems, light and easy listen.

140) The Elements of Style - Willia Strunk. Kindle. A worthwhile book, as the author would loathe me for phrasing it. A mixture of strong, helpful advice phrased as admonition and personal opinion dressed as objective rules, I enjoyed the fusty, inarguable tone. The first I heard of this was in King's On Writing and I remember him affectionately describing it as "refreshingly strict." I'll also get a paper copy of this and leave it sitting guiltily in my eyeline at my writing station.

Start my new job on the 28th, an end to a glorious year of doing very little while fucking pounding audiobook after audiobook.
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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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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?
Oh yeah, very much enjoying this. So in the same field as MR James.
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eumaas
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by eumaas »

Silent Majority wrote:
21 Nov 2022, 6:11am
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?
Oh yeah, very much enjoying this. So in the same field as MR James.
Had read him years ago but I recently read all of his stories. Good stuff. You should try Ligotti too—not quite in the same space as James and Aickman but some of the stories are very good.
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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

eumaas wrote:
21 Nov 2022, 11:04am
Silent Majority wrote:
21 Nov 2022, 6:11am
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?
Oh yeah, very much enjoying this. So in the same field as MR James.
Had read him years ago but I recently read all of his stories. Good stuff. You should try Ligotti too—not quite in the same space as James and Aickman but some of the stories are very good.
I will, I'll get to Ligotti soon, maybe by early next year. Got EF Benson lined up for my next spooky guy.
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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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141) The Midwich Cuckoos - John Wyndham. 1957. Audiobook read by Stephen Fry. Just somewhere near the start, I reached my terminal capacity for patience with Stephen Fry. Nothing in particular was the catalyst, though shortly after, he did read a passage of successful self inflicted abortions in the jolly, "Harry Potter stole a plum from the market" whimsical I'm a British national institution voice. Wyndham's novel is superb, with more time invested in scene setting than I expected which pays off as the narrative unfolds. It's adaptation into Village of the Damned makes it both a great book and a great film. Beautifully told.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Silent Majority wrote:
23 Nov 2022, 9:15am
141) The Midwich Cuckoos - John Wyndham. 1957. Audiobook read by Stephen Fry. Just somewhere near the start, I reached my terminal capacity for patience with Stephen Fry. Nothing in particular was the catalyst, though shortly after, he did read a passage of successful self inflicted abortions in the jolly, "Harry Potter stole a plum from the market" whimsical I'm a British national institution voice. Wyndham's novel is superb, with more time invested in scene setting than I expected which pays off as the narrative unfolds. It's adaptation into Village of the Damned makes it both a great book and a great film. Beautifully told.
Yikes, as wonderful a voice as Fry has, he is not suited for horror.

It is remarkable how much the narrator makes the audio book, just an immense weight on the scale one way or another. Most anything read by Scott Brick will be value-added to the book itself. But I recall listening to a book about the Simpsons where the narrator attempted (and even that word is probably generous) to do the characters and it sounded as if he'd never watched the show. Utterly destroyed whatever good qualities the book had. There was also a Fitzgerald novel I tried listening to where the narrator insisted and giving every character a whining, vaguely effeminate voice that made me hate everyone. Someone asking for lemonade or thanking someone for a dance sounded like complaining. I never bothered to finish it.
"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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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
23 Nov 2022, 9:44am
Silent Majority wrote:
23 Nov 2022, 9:15am
141) The Midwich Cuckoos - John Wyndham. 1957. Audiobook read by Stephen Fry. Just somewhere near the start, I reached my terminal capacity for patience with Stephen Fry. Nothing in particular was the catalyst, though shortly after, he did read a passage of successful self inflicted abortions in the jolly, "Harry Potter stole a plum from the market" whimsical I'm a British national institution voice. Wyndham's novel is superb, with more time invested in scene setting than I expected which pays off as the narrative unfolds. It's adaptation into Village of the Damned makes it both a great book and a great film. Beautifully told.
Yikes, as wonderful a voice as Fry has, he is not suited for horror.

It is remarkable how much the narrator makes the audio book, just an immense weight on the scale one way or another. Most anything read by Scott Brick will be value-added to the book itself. But I recall listening to a book about the Simpsons where the narrator attempted (and even that word is probably generous) to do the characters and it sounded as if he'd never watched the show. Utterly destroyed whatever good qualities the book had. There was also a Fitzgerald novel I tried listening to where the narrator insisted and giving every character a whining, vaguely effeminate voice that made me hate everyone. Someone asking for lemonade or thanking someone for a dance sounded like complaining. I never bothered to finish it.
It's so true. The best make it seem effortless, but sometimes the wrong choice can torpedo the whole experience.
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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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142) Christine - Stephen King. 1983. Read the way I find the most comfort from Stephen King; on a second hamd paperback with a garish scary-movie cover (a tie-in with the John Carpenter film) a battered spine, yellowing, dog-eared pages and the smell of a too-hunid public library. My sense memory brings me back to my Mum's top floor council flat, I'm in my teenage bedroom with just the sound of the hissing and clicking radiator in the room and my half-imagined worries of chaos on the streets below. I am alone, as the overcrowded two bedroom flat sleeps, but the narrative means I am not lonely. Late nights forcing me on to one more page. The story of the killer car feels like a pretty straight up metaphor for addiction (King had not yet started recovering from his coke habit and alcoholism) and a reaction against the very nostalgia, in the desperate fetishisation of the rock 'n' roll car, which this paperback inspires in me. Like Mick Jones being more interested now in the variations of the journey than the melody itself, I feel that King here really feels alive in the little diversions around the EC Horror high concept and the veracity of characters you and I have met and usually hurried past, like the suspicious policeman or the crooked lawyer, or the guy who runs the auto shop. This though does have the effect of sustaining a great narrative near past my zone of interest. In my impatience finish, I thought the whole book is like listening to an orchestra slickly playing some spooky classical piece. Christine is a symphony of storytelling, yes, I felt, but it's one where the middle notes are repeated and too long sustained.I could see a third of this gone, maybe reinstated for some kind of later author's cut edition. Here's the rub, though, ay, I've no idea what I'd want to see cut and I've completed the whole wholly satisfied. An epic teenage dream.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Silent Majority wrote:
23 Nov 2022, 8:06pm
142) Christine - Stephen King. 1983. Read the way I find the most comfort from Stephen King; on a second hamd paperback with a garish scary-movie cover (a tie-in with the John Carpenter film) a battered spine, yellowing, dog-eared pages and the smell of a too-hunid public library. My sense memory brings me back to my Mum's top floor council flat, I'm in my teenage bedroom with just the sound of the hissing and clicking radiator in the room and my half-imagined worries of chaos on the streets below. I am alone, as the overcrowded two bedroom flat sleeps, but the narrative means I am not lonely. Late nights forcing me on to one more page. The story of the killer car feels like a pretty straight up metaphor for addiction (King had not yet started recovering from his coke habit and alcoholism) and a reaction against the very nostalgia, in the desperate fetishisation of the rock 'n' roll car, which this paperback inspires in me. Like Mick Jones being more interested now in the variations of the journey than the melody itself, I feel that King here really feels alive in the little diversions around the EC Horror high concept and the veracity of characters you and I have met and usually hurried past, like the suspicious policeman or the crooked lawyer, or the guy who runs the auto shop. This though does have the effect of sustaining a great narrative near past my zone of interest. In my impatience finish, I thought the whole book is like listening to an orchestra slickly playing some spooky classical piece. Christine is a symphony of storytelling, yes, I felt, but it's one where the middle notes are repeated and too long sustained.I could see a third of this gone, maybe reinstated for some kind of later author's cut edition. Here's the rub, though, ay, I've no idea what I'd want to see cut and I've completed the whole wholly satisfied. An epic teenage dream.
Your summary makes me want to revisit this. I read it when I was much younger and approached it in a pretty straight-up burger n fries horrorfest kind of way. I confess that I've never taken his early period horror that seriously (that's on me, I know) and prefer him once he starts stretching himself more (Hearts in Atlantis is my favourite King book by a pretty fair margin).
"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:
23 Nov 2022, 8:14pm
Silent Majority wrote:
23 Nov 2022, 8:06pm
142) Christine - Stephen King. 1983. Read the way I find the most comfort from Stephen King; on a second hamd paperback with a garish scary-movie cover (a tie-in with the John Carpenter film) a battered spine, yellowing, dog-eared pages and the smell of a too-hunid public library. My sense memory brings me back to my Mum's top floor council flat, I'm in my teenage bedroom with just the sound of the hissing and clicking radiator in the room and my half-imagined worries of chaos on the streets below. I am alone, as the overcrowded two bedroom flat sleeps, but the narrative means I am not lonely. Late nights forcing me on to one more page. The story of the killer car feels like a pretty straight up metaphor for addiction (King had not yet started recovering from his coke habit and alcoholism) and a reaction against the very nostalgia, in the desperate fetishisation of the rock 'n' roll car, which this paperback inspires in me. Like Mick Jones being more interested now in the variations of the journey than the melody itself, I feel that King here really feels alive in the little diversions around the EC Horror high concept and the veracity of characters you and I have met and usually hurried past, like the suspicious policeman or the crooked lawyer, or the guy who runs the auto shop. This though does have the effect of sustaining a great narrative near past my zone of interest. In my impatience finish, I thought the whole book is like listening to an orchestra slickly playing some spooky classical piece. Christine is a symphony of storytelling, yes, I felt, but it's one where the middle notes are repeated and too long sustained.I could see a third of this gone, maybe reinstated for some kind of later author's cut edition. Here's the rub, though, ay, I've no idea what I'd want to see cut and I've completed the whole wholly satisfied. An epic teenage dream.
Your summary makes me want to revisit this. I read it when I was much younger and approached it in a pretty straight-up burger n fries horrorfest kind of way. I confess that I've never taken his early period horror that seriously (that's on me, I know) and prefer him once he starts stretching himself more (Hearts in Atlantis is my favourite King book by a pretty fair margin).
It really is in the living, breathing and occasionally stinking characterisation that he brings himself to the head of the pack.
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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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143) The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin - Idries Shah. Paperback. 1966. A wise fool of Eastern folklore, this character goes back to the 13th century. This collection of stories from the Sufi tradition, are humorous thought exercises which can lead to a breakthrough to higher wisdom. You could also read them, as I did, as a collection of Paddy Irishman style jokes because they really hit the spot in that way too, following the poetry of modern punchlines.
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by amj241 »

Silent Majority wrote:
23 Nov 2022, 8:06pm
142) Christine - Stephen King. 1983. Read the way I find the most comfort from Stephen King; on a second hamd paperback with a garish scary-movie cover (a tie-in with the John Carpenter film) a battered spine, yellowing, dog-eared pages and the smell of a too-hunid public library. My sense memory brings me back to my Mum's top floor council flat, I'm in my teenage bedroom with just the sound of the hissing and clicking radiator in the room and my half-imagined worries of chaos on the streets below. I am alone, as the overcrowded two bedroom flat sleeps, but the narrative means I am not lonely. Late nights forcing me on to one more page. The story of the killer car feels like a pretty straight up metaphor for addiction (King had not yet started recovering from his coke habit and alcoholism) and a reaction against the very nostalgia, in the desperate fetishisation of the rock 'n' roll car, which this paperback inspires in me. Like Mick Jones being more interested now in the variations of the journey than the melody itself, I feel that King here really feels alive in the little diversions around the EC Horror high concept and the veracity of characters you and I have met and usually hurried past, like the suspicious policeman or the crooked lawyer, or the guy who runs the auto shop. This though does have the effect of sustaining a great narrative near past my zone of interest. In my impatience finish, I thought the whole book is like listening to an orchestra slickly playing some spooky classical piece. Christine is a symphony of storytelling, yes, I felt, but it's one where the middle notes are repeated and too long sustained.I could see a third of this gone, maybe reinstated for some kind of later author's cut edition. Here's the rub, though, ay, I've no idea what I'd want to see cut and I've completed the whole wholly satisfied. An epic teenage dream.
I really like King books but haven’t gotten around to this one yet. Going to go put a hold on it in my library app now!

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Image
"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 »

amj241 wrote:
24 Nov 2022, 2:16pm
Silent Majority wrote:
23 Nov 2022, 8:06pm
142) Christine - Stephen King. 1983. Read the way I find the most comfort from Stephen King; on a second hamd paperback with a garish scary-movie cover (a tie-in with the John Carpenter film) a battered spine, yellowing, dog-eared pages and the smell of a too-hunid public library. My sense memory brings me back to my Mum's top floor council flat, I'm in my teenage bedroom with just the sound of the hissing and clicking radiator in the room and my half-imagined worries of chaos on the streets below. I am alone, as the overcrowded two bedroom flat sleeps, but the narrative means I am not lonely. Late nights forcing me on to one more page. The story of the killer car feels like a pretty straight up metaphor for addiction (King had not yet started recovering from his coke habit and alcoholism) and a reaction against the very nostalgia, in the desperate fetishisation of the rock 'n' roll car, which this paperback inspires in me. Like Mick Jones being more interested now in the variations of the journey than the melody itself, I feel that King here really feels alive in the little diversions around the EC Horror high concept and the veracity of characters you and I have met and usually hurried past, like the suspicious policeman or the crooked lawyer, or the guy who runs the auto shop. This though does have the effect of sustaining a great narrative near past my zone of interest. In my impatience finish, I thought the whole book is like listening to an orchestra slickly playing some spooky classical piece. Christine is a symphony of storytelling, yes, I felt, but it's one where the middle notes are repeated and too long sustained.I could see a third of this gone, maybe reinstated for some kind of later author's cut edition. Here's the rub, though, ay, I've no idea what I'd want to see cut and I've completed the whole wholly satisfied. An epic teenage dream.
I really like King books but haven’t gotten around to this one yet. Going to go put a hold on it in my library app now!
Nice one - hope you enjoy it.
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Is ten times worse than prison


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