Books

Bagley wrote:

ggw wrote:

Bagley wrote:
Short list entries are out for the Man Booker Prize.  Loved the Auster book.  Anyone read the others?        http://themanbookerprize.com/news/man-booker-prize-announces-2017-shortlist                                                                                               

Just finished Exit West.  I liked it a great deal - 8.5/10.  I am a fan of Hamid's writing style.  He's got this sort of sparse but elegant stream-of-consciousness thing going on.  Just like he did in the Reluctant Fundamentalist, he's able to take a really heavy topic and spin a very intimate, relatable yarn around it.  I think magical realism has become an overused device in recent years, but it works in this book.

Thanks, I'll check my local library for that one

Thanks GGW-  Enjoyed Exit West, Reluctant Fundamentalist (how's the movie?) and Moth Smoke.

Read Hari Kunzru's White Tears recently, also very good

Picked up the Sympathizer and ordered Sticky Fingers- the Jann Wenner thing

I'm giving Sticky Fingers to my brother in law for Christmas.

And I just ordered Personal History and The Naughty Nineties for a friend. I loved the former, I learned so much that I didn't know about DC and the Post in the 70's, and I've been meaning to read the latter.

Reading The Life of John Hay Volume 1 by William Roscoe Thayer first published 1915…this copy is from 1916

Bagley wrote:
Short list entries are out for the Man Booker Prize.  Loved the Auster book.  Anyone read the others?        http://themanbookerprize.com/news/man-booker-prize-announces-2017-shortlist                                                                                               

Finished History of Wolves over the weekend.  I would easily give it a 9.5/10; it's just so well written.  There are no gimmicks or clever literary devices - there is very little "action" at all (in the external world).  There is one big plot event, but it doesn't come until well into the second half of the book.  All the activity occurs in the thoughts, feelings, and growth of the main character and it is all beautifully rendered.  It's not so much a page-turner as it is the kind of book where I stopped to savor or reread passages, either because the metaphors were so brilliant or because the prose was simply stunning. 

just into the first few chapters, but an engrossing read
any UDV church members on the board

Michael Pollan in general annoys me. Is this as preachy and privileged as all of his food books?

Just finished The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer and loved it. Better than The Interestings. 

I've had an incredible run of great books lately. here are a few I've enjoyed a lot recently




a fictionalized account of medusa's life. its a self-published book so for that, it's pretty damn admirable. I like it but it's really depressing

hutch wrote:
music is my favorite thing.. so i go through periods where I read a lot of music bios but i have to say the industry has changed.. now they seem to be publishing a lot more of these books..its become a huge market (rock star memoirs)….

i think it has been said that most of them aren't that great…the worst one EVER is the Eric Crapton one… dude, he is one horrible man and I did not need to know that… of course i think he is the most overrated musician ever but his book is all about his drug use and alcoholism sobriety with a lot of stuff about how he screwed everybody over..

anthony kiedis' book is also a lot about his battle for sobriety but that one i liked.. i had no idea what an interesting childhood he had.. slash's was also interesting (his mom knew bowie really well!)…

i also liked to get the signed editions of course.. i have the bernard sumner and david j signed ones!

dean wareham's is also good…

Read this one a little while ago. I don't have much to add…it was a good read though I still don't like any of their music after Mother's Milk…I wonder if anyone has compared the number of times he mentioned shooting up vs. the number of times he got a blow job from a random girl? Probably too high to count.

I'm now reading Rocks Off: 50 Tracks That Tell the Story of the Rolling Stones…very well written book by Bill Janovitz, leader of Buffalo Tom.

Just bought Room to Dream!

Vote for the winner of the alternative to the 2018 Nobel in Literature:

Here are the nominees:

Adichie Chimamanda Ngozi - Nigeria
Anyuru Johannes - Sweden
Atwood Margaret - Canada
Auster Paul - US
Avallone Silvia - Italy
Bouraoui Nina - France
Carson Anne - Canada
Condé Maryse - Guadeloupe
DeLillo Don - US
Edelfeldt Inger - Sweden
Ekman Kerstin - Sweden
Ferrante Elena - Italy
Gaiman Neil - Great Britain
Ganman Jens - Sweden
Hustvedt Siri - US
Jägerfeld Jenny - Sweden
Khemiri Jonas Hassen - Sweden
Kincaid Jamaica - US
Levithan David - US
Louis Édouard - France
Lundell Ulf - Sweden
Lövestam Sara - Sweden
McCarthy Cormac - US
McEwan Ian - Great Britain
Murakami Haruki - Japan
Oates Joyce Carol - US
Okorafor Nnedi - US
Oksanen Sofi - Finland
Oz Amos - Israel
Paborn Sara - Sweden
Pleijel Agneta - Sweden
Pynchon Thomas - US
Robinson Marilynne - US
Rosoff Meg - US
Rowling J.K. - Great Britain
Roy Arundhati - India
Schiefauer Jessica - Sweden
Smith Patti - US
Smith Zadie - Great Britain
Stamm Peter - Switzerland
Stefánsson Jón Kalman - Iceland
Stridsberg Sara - Sweden
Tartt Donna - US
Thúy Kim - Canada
Tokarczuk Olga - Poland
wa Thiong'o Ngugi - Kenya
Winterson Jeanette - UK

These books are all free today for Prime Members with Kindles:

https://www.amazon.com/b/ref=sr_aj?node=15680115011&ajr=0

*Note, you must be the primary account holder.  If you're the secondary on someone's prime account, have the Primary person "buy" the books and share Kindle accounts.

two interesting rock books due out this fall

Beastie Boys Book Hardcover – October 30, 2018
by Michael Diamond (Author), Adam Horovitz (Author)

Acid for the Children: A Memoir  – September 25, 2018
by Flea (Author)

came out a few years back…but just picked this up and looking forward to digesting it

Viv Albertine - Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys.

anyone read this?

It’s on my list as I heard it’s top shelf

I just finished this much-ballyhooed debut novel by an incarcerated junkie Iraq vet.  It's good - really good.  It's an easy read; just a plainly told story of a fictional (but really not that fictional) not-yet incarcerated junkie Iraq vet.  There's not much to the protagonist or the plot or the prose, but I think that's the point.  He scoops his army buddies into body bags, gets dope sick, gets ripped off, robs some banks, gets his heart broken, etc…  They all happen with such tiring regularity that they become pedestrian, and the writing reflects that.  Nothing is romanticized.  War isn't glorious. There's no hidden insight or truth in addiction.  "Dark" is a fair descriptor of the tone.  The main character doesn't have many redeeming qualities, but you like him any way.  He has a distinctive voice.  The other characters are mostly just flat or sad.  That makes the book sound a little depressing, but its not.  It's interesting to read someone write of these huge traumas and not try to imbue them with meaning but instead to just lay them out as they are.



The author has a great PR team.  They talk of Walker using the proceeds of the book to pay back the banks he robbed.  They also say he's working on a film deal but the talks are stalled because he has used up his allotted phone time.

VOTE-hatch wrote:
Beastie Boys Book Hardcover – October 30, 2018
by Michael Diamond (Author), Adam Horovitz (Author)

about 5 chapters in and I love it
love letter to the early 80s NYC.  But also drives me mad this insane world was a 90min train ride away and I only checked it out a few times the entirety of the 80s

Adam Yauch's absence is significant and sad that he wasn't a part of this (for obvious reasons)
The first chapter is great and would have loved to hear his early 80s experiences
they admit it straight up, if Yauch didn't push them like he did…there would have been no beastie boys

so I am doing the audio (the horror) but Audiobook Cast Includes  (I do love all the NY accents)
Steve Buscemi
Bobby Cannavale
Exene Cervenka
Jarvis Cocker
Elvis Costello
Chuck D
Snoop Dogg
Will Ferrell
Kim Gordon
LL Cool J
Spike Jonze
Talib Kweli
Tim Meadows
Bette Midler
Mix Master Mike
Yoshimi O
Rosie Perez
Amy Poehler
John C. Reilly
Rev Run
Kate Schellenbach
MC Serch
Chloe Sevigny
Jon Stewart
Ben Stiller
Wanda Sykes
Jeff Tweedy

So you're saying Exene, Elvis, and Tweedy all pull off credible New Yawk accents?  ;)

well only a few chapters in and they haven't spoken yet…so maybe
Kinda bummed they skipped dc on the book tour, sounds cool as well
https://music.mxdwn.com/2018/09/24/news/beastie-boys-announce-beastie-boys-book-live-direct-tour/

Going to have to also by they book tho…as I need to see all the photos too

I have all three copies - Kindle to read, Hardcover to view, and Audible to listen.  Only the second book ever I've done that with.  Can't wait to get into it this weekend.

Enjoyed them on Fallon last night too.