Is that book by Jeff Buckley? Because I can only find How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy.
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Nordic states are the only socialist regimes worth a damn. And it seems like people are tired of socialism here, too.
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yep, my bad
Gave up on (a translation of) The Quran a bit over half way through. Interesting to see what’s inside and tried to keep it in context but ultimately it wasn’t my cup of tea.
Finished The Silmarillion last night - a lot more enjoyable than I remembered. Nuff said.
Just finished Misquoting Jesus (Bart D Ehrman) - fascinating introductory laymans guide to textual criticism of NT manuscripts. feel a lot more informed about the subject now and confirmed a few ideas/thoughts/doubts/etc which is quite nice; but have no illusions about it being a safe conversation topic in any church community that I’ve ever been a part of, which is far less nice.
Bout to start CS Lewis’ Space Trilogy. Remember enjoying some of it as a kid but don’t remember ever finishing.
I should really be focusing on uni work though.
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I have it on my list, I read The Zero Train this month, and it led me to buy a history of Stalin’s Terror. The Zero Train is very good (Yuri Buida)
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You’ve (obliquely) reminded me to pick up Joseph Campbell’s “The hero with a thousand faces” for another go-round.
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Right now I’m reading
- New York Trilogy by Paul Auster, on my kindle, cos it was there. Last read it when I was a teenager, thought it was great then, now I think it is…well, the kind of thing a pretenious teenager would like. Probably won’t finish.
- Very Short Introduction To the Spanish Civil War. Can’t believe how utterly ignorant I am of this recent and local conflict. (Then I guess I can believe, given how everyone is ignorant of most things)
- When We Were Orphans by Ishiguro. Just part of my current Ishiguro tip. He can write.
I just finished The Zero Train, which was depressing but great.
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Remember getting introduced to his monomyth concept at uni years ago (as part of a course on narrative structures and character design).
The idea was intriguing but still haven’t gotten around to actually reading the book (it’s on the list).
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I am reading “Neuromancer”, I quite like it.
As English is not my native language I’m finding some parts a bit hard to follow. But I’ve been wanting to read it for years, since I was a kid.
Does anyone know a good european online store to buy books? Used is better, but new is ok.
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Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm
This books finally out! A genre defining guy, hopfully it gets into the why he made the choices he did in his music.
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I ‘m just finishing this. Is about how germans throughout the centuries missused Tacitus’ “Germania” for forging a german Identity. How “wild, beer drinking babarians”, who sacrificed human flesh, were idealized as the superman race. Spoiler: No “Germans” are found in Germany. They might be somewhere up north… Who knows…
Quiet a intersting read which leads me right to Tacitus “Gemania” which I’m about to read next.
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Thank you, I must be a “pretentious teenager” because I think he’s one of the best American authors.
I don’t think that at all! I explained that my re-reading was coloured by initial reading (recall, I was the pretentious teenager.) I liked The Music Of Chance more, I find NY Trilogy…too much.
Worse than judging a book by its cover, is judging a reader by their book. I wouldn’t do it, please accept my apologies if you felt slighted by my off hand comments.
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I was not offended, it was especially for him that it hurt me.
I’ve read most of his books young too and never had that feeling.
More than reading I like to reread and Auster is clearly part of what I reread regularly.
The Music of Chance is, to my taste, one of the most pleasant books
I have come across. I had to buy it at least twice for myself and a multitude as gifts.
Maybe because I like walls.
(Moon palace is very good too)
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Yes! Moon Palace too. Maybe I just don’t like NY Trilogy (at the moment, I find my tastes change a lot)
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I loved Auster for a while, and then felt like I was just re-reading the same book each time. Bit like Murakami.
Fun while it lasted, though. I’d say that once the Auster kick had worn off I got the same buzz from the likes of Sebald, Borges, Bolano, Javier Marias…
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Yeah, I tend to read a bunch by the same author in a row. I think the first time I did that was all the good John Irving novels (Garp, Cider House, Hotel New Hampshire, Owen Meany.) I still re-read them once in a while. With Murakami (and others) they can be samey (style?) but he has distinct periods. That early stuff, the surreal stuff, the romantic stuff, short stories. There’s some commonality between the Rat stuff and (say) Sputnik Sweetheart, but they’re also very different.
Then look at Ishiguro…he makes a habit out of writing “genre” fiction, but each one tackles similar themes, in that same Ishiguro voice.
But yeah, I take your point, it is good to read widely, and move on when you get overly familiar with something. But for stuff I really love, I go back every now and again.
I finished Gibson’s Agency last night. Like the previous Blue Ant trilogy, it took me some time to get into the Klept trilogy, but now I’m hooked.
If you really want to understand Gibson, I strongly recommend reading all of the books in at least two of his trilogies. Sprawl + Blue Ant is a good choice, but they all stand up to time surprisingly well.
I haven’t read the Bridge trilogy in a while, so it may be time to give that one a spin again.
Stephenson’s Termination Shock was also good, but I’ve been disappointed by much of his recent output.
I read years back that he (Moby) donated the royalties from the car adverts to environmental causes. Isn’t that the case?
Just started The Disappearance of Rituals by Byung-Chul Han, which is a critique of our social media driven culture of communication without community.
Less than 20 pages in (of 89) and already I can highly recommend it.
This is the first of his books I’ve read. There’ll be more.
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