Books Thread

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Re: Books Thread

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Re: Books Thread

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whatwouldcooleydo? wrote:Image
Awesome. I love Raymond Carver.

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Re: Books Thread

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Currently working through this....

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...which I'd avoided for a long time, thinking it'd be an overly pedantic exercise in intellectual masturbation.
Turns out it is, but, as masturbation goes, it's pretty enjoyable.

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Re: Books Thread

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blasted through these two in the past two days, basically knocked each out in one sitting

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Re: Books Thread

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scotto wrote:
whatwouldcooleydo? wrote:Image
Awesome. I love Raymond Carver.
Indeed, he's great. In the past few years learned this little nugget:

Carver became interested in writing in Paradise, California, where he had moved with his family to be close to his mother-in-law. While attending Chico State College, he enrolled in a creative writing course taught by the novelist John Gardner, a recent doctoral graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, who became a mentor and had a major influence on Carver's life and career.


Chico State college became Cal State University- Chico, in 1972, and is my alma mater, as well as my wife's employer for the past 22 years. Paradise is the next town over.

As for the esteemed John Gardner, I haven't read much from him ever since being subjected to Nickel Mountain way back in 1984 in a contemporary lit class back at UNC-Wilmington, when I was making my *first* attempt at college :lol: I recall not being into it, but that was a long time ago and I'm not the same person I was then. Knowing Gardner's status as a novelist, it's probably long overdue that I give him another shot.

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Re: Books Thread

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Image
Read on the flight home from Headhunter's shindig. Micah was really feeling it that night.
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Re: Books Thread

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whatwouldcooleydo? wrote:As for the esteemed John Gardner, I haven't read much from him ever since being subjected to Nickel Mountain way back in 1984 in a contemporary lit class back at UNC-Wilmington, when I was making my *first* attempt at college :lol: I recall not being into it, but that was a long time ago and I'm not the same person I was then. Knowing Gardner's status as a novelist, it's probably long overdue that I give him another shot.
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Re: Books Thread

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beantownbubba wrote:A Man Called Destruction by Holly George-Warren (the Alex Chilton bio) - One of the better books of its type that I've read but in the end it had kind of the opposite effect on me. I was pretty sure before, but now I'm certain that it's a mistake to learn more about artists I care about. The tidbits (e.g. who a song is about) and insights (i.e. some new musical or artistic perspective) gained are too often offset by learning just how naked the emperor really is.

The book is well researched, pretty well written, enthusiastic about its subject and contains numerous new to me facts and insights on a variety of topics. That sounds like and is meant as a solid recommendation. But it turns out that after he grew out of his cute and charismatic prodigy stage, Chilton was pretty much of an asshole in some really disturbing ways. The author seems to think that his last couple of years (as human being as opposed to artist) redeems him; I wasn't as impressed. So figure out what you care about before picking this one up.

x posted to the big star thread
finished this yesterday. i knew the gist of alex's, shall we say, flaws, already, so didnt have your exact reaction, but i get it.

anyway, good read. not many major musical revelations (though a quote by alex about how a lot of big stars childlike lyrics were due to him catching up after essentially skipping his adolescence to be in the box tops really stuck with me. seems obvious but id never thought about it like that) but mostly made sense of his career and personality, warts and all.

one thing ive noticed about bios like this that tends to irk me a bit is theres always a point at which it suddenly seems disinterested in covering anything further in any detail. for this one it was the point in the 90s when chilton was finally seeing some sustained success. anything after that (big star/box tops reunions, that 70s show, growing big star cult, marriage, some sort of happiness, death) was breezed through in a few pages total. it was weird to see such care given to tracking his rocky solo career hrough the 70s and early 80s, then when it starts to level out with some mainstream success its treated like a perfunctory appendix. this book devoted about equal space to early chilton solo work, panther burns, cramps production, etc as it did big star and the box tops so it wasnt even like the author focused just on the popular era. maybe holly just didnt want to dwell on his later years for any number of reasons (not wanting to overdo it on the redemption angle you picked up on, maybe? not wanting to linger on morbidity? who knows) but it felt oddly rushed

would love to read a proper bio on chris bell, because all the existing big star stuff seems to barely hint at all that was going on in his life. this book was at least more blunt about the fact that chris was a closeted gay man and maybe had feelings for alex, unlike the documentary which gently hinted at it then quickly moved on. doesnt really seem like his familys interested in changing that though, which is obviously their prerogative, but is a shame considering a large part of his downfall seemed at least somewhat due to alex stealing the spotlight from him in big star

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Re: Books Thread

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Shakespeare wrote:one thing ive noticed about bios like this that tends to irk me a bit is theres always a point at which it suddenly seems disinterested in covering anything further in any detail.
YES!! Autobios, too.
Shakespeare wrote:would love to read a proper bio on chris bell, because all the existing big star stuff seems to barely hint at all that was going on in his life. this book was at least more blunt about the fact that chris was a closeted gay man and maybe had feelings for alex, unlike the documentary which gently hinted at it then quickly moved on. doesnt really seem like his familys interested in changing that though, which is obviously their prerogative, but is a shame considering a large part of his downfall seemed at least somewhat due to alex stealing the spotlight from him in big star
A common theme in rock n roll whether viewed from the gay angle (e.g brian epstein) or the dueling egos/spotlight angle (e.g. brian jones).
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Re: Books Thread

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Just had these 3 titles delivered from Amazon. I have quite a backlog, though, and not sure when I'll start them.

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Re: Books Thread

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Rereading this with the movie due out soon...
Image
First read it six or seven years ago and really enjoyed it. Especially enjoyable for those of us who share a healthy obsession with music in general and specific performers in particular and whose family and partners may not always see that obsession as "healthy." If you're going to see the movie, I implore you: Read the book first.

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Re: Books Thread

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Jo Nesbo is perhaps the best of the Scandinavian mystery writers. His latest, Macbeth, is a puzzler of a different kind. It is a stand-alone, not part of the Harry Hole series and it is a bold attempt to re-tell the Macbeth tale as a noir mystery set in a dystopian post-war Scottish town. It is at once fascinating and boring as hell. I couldn't finish it though I will probably try again.

I can't remember if I've mentioned William Lashner's Victor Carl series. The mysteries are ok but he's gotten better and better at providing a really interesting take on Philadelphia and especially the interplay between the blue collar and high society segments of the population. Marked Man, the one i just finished is the best so far, I think.
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Re: Books Thread

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Re: Books Thread

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charles portis - norwood. 4/5
really great. not a lot to the ending but it kinda fit with the writing style, which was simple and straightforward but with plenty of subtle laughs. got my eye on the movie, because i felt like true grit was really well served on the screen and this had the same charms as a book for me

saul bellow - seize the day. 3/5
first bellow i've read. definitely will read more but didnt quite love this. bits and pieces were great but as a whole it was either too short or too long. felt like it needed to be a short story or a full length novel, and being in between didnt work

michel houellebecq - the elementary particles. 4/5
really loved this. at times it felt on the verge of going overboard with the explicit sexual bits but ultimately i felt they served a greater purpose, and the emotional climaxes (no pun intended) wouldnt have hit as hard without all the lurid details. the divergent storylines worked really well, although i did wish just a bit more was devoted to the michel one. only thing keeping me from giving this five stars was a few too many passages that slowed things down too much, but i really enjoyed it and felt it took a lot of risks and almost all of them ultimately paid off. apparently the movie softens the pessimism a bit, which is confusing but intriguing.

tennessee williams - the roman spring of mrs stone. 3/5
fine but i just kinda breezed through it with little thought. felt more like a play than a novel. good characters though. first of hers ive read, also will read more

ive also been dipping in and out of a book of bernard malamud's short stories (great), and a biography of antonin dvorak (to hopefully gain at least some better udnerstanding of classical music) and last night i started knut hamson's hunger, which is a far easier read so far than i expected.

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Re: Books Thread

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Shakespeare wrote:...bernard malamud's short stories (great) and knut hamson's hunger...
Awesome stuff--two of my favorites.

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Re: Books Thread

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Tailspin by Steven Brill was exactly what I thought it would be, which raises the very fundamental question why the fuck would I do this to myself? Despite Brill's optimism (backed by impressive research) that America can reverse out of its current 50 year tailspin, this book should come complete w/ a prozac prescription. As always, Brill makes his case carefully and persuasively and for the most part he is dead on target in identifying the biggest contributors to our current mess; the problem is, reading the details set out so clearly and persuasively is depressing as hell. Probably not must reading in the sense that you probably have some idea about all of the factors and trends he identifies, but well worth reading for the way he weaves the story into a fundamental whole and the way he provides the stats to back up the analysis. Plus every chapter includes an optimistic take on people who are doing the hard work of fighting back against the problems identified in that chapter, which is at least interesting, sometimes new (at least to me) and occasionally inspiring.
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Re: Books Thread

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Amor Towles - A Gentleman in Moscow - I really enjoyed this one. I understand both the hype it's generated and the criticism. Either you buy into the main character and the central conceit or you don't. If you do you'll be transported; if you don't, you won't get past the first 50 pages.
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Re: Books Thread

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Shakespeare wrote:
beantownbubba wrote:A Man Called Destruction by Holly George-Warren (the Alex Chilton bio) - One of the better books of its type that I've read but in the end it had kind of the opposite effect on me. I was pretty sure before, but now I'm certain that it's a mistake to learn more about artists I care about. The tidbits (e.g. who a song is about) and insights (i.e. some new musical or artistic perspective) gained are too often offset by learning just how naked the emperor really is.

The book is well researched, pretty well written, enthusiastic about its subject and contains numerous new to me facts and insights on a variety of topics. That sounds like and is meant as a solid recommendation. But it turns out that after he grew out of his cute and charismatic prodigy stage, Chilton was pretty much of an asshole in some really disturbing ways. The author seems to think that his last couple of years (as human being as opposed to artist) redeems him; I wasn't as impressed. So figure out what you care about before picking this one up.

x posted to the big star thread
finished this yesterday. i knew the gist of alex's, shall we say, flaws, already, so didnt have your exact reaction, but i get it.

anyway, good read. not many major musical revelations (though a quote by alex about how a lot of big stars childlike lyrics were due to him catching up after essentially skipping his adolescence to be in the box tops really stuck with me. seems obvious but id never thought about it like that) but mostly made sense of his career and personality, warts and all.

one thing ive noticed about bios like this that tends to irk me a bit is theres always a point at which it suddenly seems disinterested in covering anything further in any detail. for this one it was the point in the 90s when chilton was finally seeing some sustained success. anything after that (big star/box tops reunions, that 70s show, growing big star cult, marriage, some sort of happiness, death) was breezed through in a few pages total. it was weird to see such care given to tracking his rocky solo career hrough the 70s and early 80s, then when it starts to level out with some mainstream success its treated like a perfunctory appendix. this book devoted about equal space to early chilton solo work, panther burns, cramps production, etc as it did big star and the box tops so it wasnt even like the author focused just on the popular era. maybe holly just didnt want to dwell on his later years for any number of reasons (not wanting to overdo it on the redemption angle you picked up on, maybe? not wanting to linger on morbidity? who knows) but it felt oddly rushed

would love to read a proper bio on chris bell, because all the existing big star stuff seems to barely hint at all that was going on in his life. this book was at least more blunt about the fact that chris was a closeted gay man and maybe had feelings for alex, unlike the documentary which gently hinted at it then quickly moved on. doesnt really seem like his familys interested in changing that though, which is obviously their prerogative, but is a shame considering a large part of his downfall seemed at least somewhat due to alex stealing the spotlight from him in big star
Just finished this book.
I agree, the lack of detail about Alex's later life and the happiness that came with it was peculiar. It was literally a few pages.

He sure sounded like a ray of sunshine most of his adult life.

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Re: Books Thread

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I've gone a bit of a different tack lately. Frankly I've grown bored with most genre fiction but the dilemma is that I like those kinds of books when I travel which is a fair amount. Most science fiction and fantasy has gotten too dark for me, or just too ordinary but I've found a couple of books from both areas lately that I've really enjoyed:

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Grace of Kings is the first in a trilogy by Ken Liu who had previously been known for his short stories. The book is a fantasy epic but rather than draw on Western traditions for it's baseline world building, it looks to China and the legends of the Han Dynasty. The settings are rich and varied and the characters are compelling. The lack of notable female characters early on was a bit of an issue but Liu rights the ship late on that with some strong women entering the story. The sequel, Wall of Storms, which I have just started takes this even further. These are probably the first fantasy books I've enjoyed in twenty years.

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As much as I am enjoying Liu's work I'm really more of a science fiction fan at heart and after reading some reviews discovered Gareth Powell's Embers of War which is the intended first installment of a trilogy. I had a couple of knocks against it from the start. The first was the first person narrative which has never been my favorite, but this book took it even farther by introducing multiple first person narratives for each of the main characters. The second issue I had was that at first the characters seemed to be straight out of "space opera" central casting. After diving in though the narrative style actually proved to be a strength and with maybe one notable exception the characters were anything but cookie cutter. This is a fast paced morality play that keeps you guessing and really gets you into the characters. I loved this book and am excited for the sequel.
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Image

absolutely fascinating dude, a real-life Leonard Zelig! He truly lived a life

Read it all in one sitting
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Re: Books Thread

Post by Shakespeare »

jr29 wrote:
Shakespeare wrote:
beantownbubba wrote:A Man Called Destruction by Holly George-Warren (the Alex Chilton bio) - One of the better books of its type that I've read but in the end it had kind of the opposite effect on me. I was pretty sure before, but now I'm certain that it's a mistake to learn more about artists I care about. The tidbits (e.g. who a song is about) and insights (i.e. some new musical or artistic perspective) gained are too often offset by learning just how naked the emperor really is.

The book is well researched, pretty well written, enthusiastic about its subject and contains numerous new to me facts and insights on a variety of topics. That sounds like and is meant as a solid recommendation. But it turns out that after he grew out of his cute and charismatic prodigy stage, Chilton was pretty much of an asshole in some really disturbing ways. The author seems to think that his last couple of years (as human being as opposed to artist) redeems him; I wasn't as impressed. So figure out what you care about before picking this one up.

x posted to the big star thread
finished this yesterday. i knew the gist of alex's, shall we say, flaws, already, so didnt have your exact reaction, but i get it.

anyway, good read. not many major musical revelations (though a quote by alex about how a lot of big stars childlike lyrics were due to him catching up after essentially skipping his adolescence to be in the box tops really stuck with me. seems obvious but id never thought about it like that) but mostly made sense of his career and personality, warts and all.

one thing ive noticed about bios like this that tends to irk me a bit is theres always a point at which it suddenly seems disinterested in covering anything further in any detail. for this one it was the point in the 90s when chilton was finally seeing some sustained success. anything after that (big star/box tops reunions, that 70s show, growing big star cult, marriage, some sort of happiness, death) was breezed through in a few pages total. it was weird to see such care given to tracking his rocky solo career hrough the 70s and early 80s, then when it starts to level out with some mainstream success its treated like a perfunctory appendix. this book devoted about equal space to early chilton solo work, panther burns, cramps production, etc as it did big star and the box tops so it wasnt even like the author focused just on the popular era. maybe holly just didnt want to dwell on his later years for any number of reasons (not wanting to overdo it on the redemption angle you picked up on, maybe? not wanting to linger on morbidity? who knows) but it felt oddly rushed

would love to read a proper bio on chris bell, because all the existing big star stuff seems to barely hint at all that was going on in his life. this book was at least more blunt about the fact that chris was a closeted gay man and maybe had feelings for alex, unlike the documentary which gently hinted at it then quickly moved on. doesnt really seem like his familys interested in changing that though, which is obviously their prerogative, but is a shame considering a large part of his downfall seemed at least somewhat due to alex stealing the spotlight from him in big star
Just finished this book.
I agree, the lack of detail about Alex's later life and the happiness that came with it was peculiar. It was literally a few pages.

He sure sounded like a ray of sunshine most of his adult life.
glad its not just me then

i just realized a book on chris bell is out this month

throughthe record label that commissioned it its $43, which seems absurd for a paperback but i hope to read it eventually

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Re: Books Thread

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Re: Books Thread

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whatwouldcooleydo? wrote:Image
I question this author's commitment. Shouldn't it be more along the lines of "I don't give a fuck, and I don't care what anyone thinks" ? Subtlety does not matter in a "no-fucks-given" philosophy.
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Re: Books Thread

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Image

All I'd read before was a short story in the New Yorker a few years ago, which I really remember very little about. Read about her other books, but never got around to picking them up, but this one's very impressive: A great read if you go in for the quirky existential thing. In terms of craft she lives up to the hype.

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Re: Books Thread

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scotto wrote:Image

All I'd read before was a short story in the New Yorker a few years ago, which I really remember very little about. Read about her other books, but never got around to picking them up, but this one's very impressive: A great read if you go in for the quirky existential thing. In terms of craft she lives up to the hype.
I read Eileen, which was quite good
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Re: Books Thread

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dogstar wrote:
Jonicont wrote:The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin comes out tomorrow. It's the last book in her Broken Earth trilogy. The first two books won the 2016 & 2017 Hugo award. She is turning the science fiction world on it's head. A woman and a black girl from Brooklyn. Check it out if this is your genre
I'll add it to the list - thanks for the recommendation.
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Re: Books Thread

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Bagmen is one of the more interesting entries in William Lashner's Victor Carl series. I mention it specifically because the sazerac (the cocktail) plays a surprisingly large part in the story, which may be of interest to at least a couple of regular readers of this thread in addition to me. Unexpected, to say the least, and fun.
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Re: Books Thread

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whatwouldcooleydo? wrote:I read Eileen, which was quite good
Reading that now. Very good.

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scotto wrote:
whatwouldcooleydo? wrote:I read Eileen, which was quite good
Reading that now. Very good.
I discovered Eileen via David Sedaris— we saw him live here in Chico and he was raving about it, so I checked it out based on his passionate endorsement
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Re: Books Thread

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Image

This one strikes me as being totally in the wheelhouse for many here. Imagine it would appeal to fans of Larry Brown, Barry Hannah, et al.

Enjoyed it thoroughly, read it in one sitting. It is set in Madison County, NC, which is the next county over from my home county, Buncombe County. Madison County has long had an infamous reputation for being wild, corrupt, and lawless, and because of this so many specific DBT songs remind me vividly of Bloody Madison (this moniker dates back to the Civil War and is explained in the book). As a teen we were always scared shitless of driving through there, praying to god we didn't have a flat or a breakdown. No exaggeration, this was a place known for strangers entering but never leaving, if you know what I mean. Hell, I remember as a kid seeing a billboard in Madison Co. that said, "don't let the sun set on your black ass in Madison County!" I hear that it's "gentrified" these days, that the hippies and rich people came in and ruined the place, but in my mind and memory it will always be scary ol' corrupt Madison County
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