Lou
Looking forward to my day in court.
It's been a while since I read a book that got it to the main-stream: Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad
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"And this is the chorus.....or perhaps it's a bridge...."
Finally started the second volume from the limited edition of Facing The Other Way, The Story Of 4AD, written by Martin Aston.
I have this set a couple of years already, but as I have mainly 4AD-albums from their early years, I never made to start reading the second part (1990-1999).
But even without reading it, it's such a beautiful set, including 2 CD's.
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Just started Message To Our Folks-The Art Ensemble Of Chicago,by Paul Steinbeck.
"please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
We're trying to build a monument to show that we were here
It won't be visible through the air
And there won't be any shade to cool the monument to prove that we were here. - Gene Parsons, 1973
I am reading Max Gladstone's Three Parts Dead. It's called an urban fantasy but I don't think that pigeonhole quite works. Urban fantasy these days is usually paranormal detective (Dredsen Files, Sandman Slim, etc) or the tired faeries-are-real-they're-nasty-here's-a-halfbreed-to-settle-scores-or-fuck-all-of-them. Anyway, this book took about four chapters to settle in but wow, it's so freaking different from everything else out there. Here's the best description I found on the Web
Its basic plot is: God Is Dead, and His estate is contested.
When Kos Everburning is found dead by His priesthood, the prestigious Concern of Kelethras, Albrecht and Ao is called in to salvage something of the situation with their Necromantic arts. Representing the firm are junior partner Elayne Kevarian and our protagonist, probational new hire Tara Abernathy.
Tara was recently expelled from the Hidden Schools, a university of the Craft (the local name for magic) hidden above the clouds. Given she was expelled right off the balcony of said flying school, it's clear that she has made some powerful enemies, and her future employment as a practitioner of the Craft is by no means certain; she badly needs to impress her new employers.
Within her first few hours on the job, Tara narrowly survives plummeting from the heavens again, befriends a powerful vampire, is forced by circumstances to steal a gargoyle's face, and acquires accomplices in a chain-smoking priest and a junkie cop. Then things get complicated.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
I finished The Fireman and discussed it at the book club meeting today.
I enjoyed the book, as did the other members of the club.
If one knew nothing about Joe Hill, he or she would know he is a Generation X aged person. He has a lot of references to the 80s, especially the original MTV. He also includes many references to today's society, including actors, talk show hosts, and even Obama and Trump. There are also references to the internet. The polarisation of American society is a major theme. I also see similarities between the way people are treated who are infected with the disease in the novel to the way AIDS victims were ostracised during the 80s.
I also see similarities between this book and The Stand, by his father Stephen King. However, I notice more references to current events and celebrities now and from the 80s in Hill's book than I do to 70s events and celebrities in King's The Stand.
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Laura
While dealing with this seasons not-the-flu-but-close-enough I have done some re-reading.
William Gibson stuff, Bridge trilogy, without Virtual Light I guess I borrowed from the library.
Idoru
All the worlds parties
and then as a makeup, and start to the next batch:
Whoops Pattern Recognition , Spook Country might be next.
I like his style. They are surely pageturners. Not perfect, but Good Enough. Absurd enough to keep my interest.
Last edited by markwoll; 03-20-2017 at 08:29 PM.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
-- Aristotle
Nostalgia, you know, ain't what it used to be. Furthermore, they tells me, it never was.
“A Man Who Does Not Read Has No Appreciable Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read” - Mark Twain
Just finished a recent book about Preston Tucker, the entrepreneur behind the Tucker '48. One of my dream cars, if I only had a couple million dollars. How a guy who employed 2200 people building that car and had 50,000 blueprints and mechanical drawings for the car and its parts was believed to be a fraud was pure government shenanigans.
Just started The Thicket by Joe R. Lansdale. I thought I had read it before, but the summary on the flap copy didn't familiar. Champion Joe has become my favorite writer. Looking forward to see the latest installments of his Hap and Leonard on TV.
Lou
Looking forward to my day in court.
Hey, Lou
There is a new Hap and Leonard novel out called Rusty Puppy.
Now reading: The One Inside by Sam Shepard.
We're trying to build a monument to show that we were here
It won't be visible through the air
And there won't be any shade to cool the monument to prove that we were here. - Gene Parsons, 1973
I just finished Hill by Jean Giono. Very short, but intense.
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.
Short: 112 pages
Intense: A small, isolated peasant community (13 people) are hit with a series of life-threatening misfortunes in rapid succession. How they anticipate, interpret, and cope with the problems builds this eerie supernatural atmosphere that permeates the entire narrative. The pacing is excellent, as is the sensory language. I found it a real page-turner.
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.
I'm halfway through Joe Lansdale, The Thicket, which I'm enjoying immensely. I've got three more Champion Joe books on deck: novels Fender Lizards and Rusty Puppy and a collection of stories and essays Miracles Ain't What They Used to Be. This last one has an extensive bibliography in the back, showing me my Lansdale collection is way incomplete, so I've stopped trying.
Lou
Looking forward to my day in court.
TapeOp
Currently reading Neal Peart’s most recent one.
Rusty Puppy (2017) by Joe R. Lansdale
Little Heaven (2017) by Nick Cutter
We're trying to build a monument to show that we were here
It won't be visible through the air
And there won't be any shade to cool the monument to prove that we were here. - Gene Parsons, 1973
The New American Splendor Anthology - Harvey Pekar (comics by R Crumb & others)
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Been on a Bryan Smith horror binge lately. The Killing Kind, The Killing Kind 2, and now on Depraved.
A Comfort Zone is not a Life Sentence
Bookmarks