Main Menu

Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 10:33:36 AM

Login with username, password and session length

What are you reading?

Started by Talulah, really!, October 04, 2017, 10:07:22 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Artie Fufkin

Quote from: Artie Fufkin on December 21, 2021, 11:45:31 AMI've just started reading Follow You Home by Mark Edwards.
Read about the first 30 pages. Not the best writing, but keeping me interested.
Pulp horror kinda thang.
Finished this the other day. Mweh.

Famous Mortimer

"Future Days: Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany" by David Stubbs

Goes out of his way in the 75-page prologue to repeatedly insist Baader-Meinhof were rubbish and the people who still idolise them are idiots. Perhaps it's the 2014 publishing date, I feel the same book written after the misery of the last 7 years would be quite different. Or perhaps it's just more both-sides-ist pablum.

When he eventually gets onto the music, I realised I'd already read the section on Amon Duul somewhere else, and I didn't like it that much the first time. While I adore lots of the music, I find Stubbs' style a bit irritating.

I also have a nagging fear in the back of my head that one of the reasons I like the music is something in the analogue nature of the recording, about old-timey organs and using technology not for its intended purpose. I'm not sure it's an accident that few of the bands in the book made any decent music past the end of the 70s, and wonder if they'd had access to the same equipment they had later in their career, those early albums would have sounded a bit naff.

Anyway, not really the point of the book. I liked the bit on Conrad Schnitzler, who carried on making great "music" throughout his career, and the book itself was fine.

sevendaughters

last year I failed in my 50 books challenge because bereavement and lack of motivation when it came to words on a page (though i did do a few audiobooks). however I am back! first three of the year lined up and committed to:

- Colin Wilson, The Philosopher's Stone (about 40% through)
- John le Carre, Silverview (new one, Xmas present)
- Keith Roberts, Pavane

All manageable length. Back in a few weeks.

bgmnts

Quite endeared to Cicero sometimes now, reading his correspondence. He seems desperate for his mate to reply to him. We've all been there I suppose.

Artie Fufkin

Just started (about 30 pages in) reading Francis Spuffords' Light Perpetual.
Enjoying it immensely.
Spoiler alert
A 'what if?' kind of story, I guess.
Starts with a WW2 bomb going off in a branch of Woolworths. Amongst the shoppers, 5 kids are killed, and Francis takes you on a journey through their lives had they had lived (I think this is the premise, anyhow).
[close]
Really well written.
I have another of his books to read; Golden Hill. Heard good things about that, too.

Twit 2

I read Bob Mortimer's autobiography, as I got it for Christmas. Lovely to hear about his working class upbringing and solicitor years (lots of interesting stuff here), but once he gets famous it just peters out. Some of it is astonishingly banal and poorly written, and that's after the editor/ghost-writer has punched it up. Still loved reading it because it's Bob, but yeesh, celeb autobiographies really are the bottom of the literary barrel. Cellini/Berlioz (to name my two favourite autobiographies) it ain't.

Kankurette

Just finished The Vanishing Half. It made me cry.

My mum got Bob Mortimer's book, not sure how far in she is though. I'm not keen on celebrity autobiographies/memoirs unless they wrote them themselves, like Kristin Hersh or Carrie Brownstein.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Twit 2 on January 11, 2022, 08:19:43 PMI read Bob Mortimer's autobiography, as I got it for Christmas. Lovely to hear about his working class upbringing and solicitor years (lots of interesting stuff here), but once he gets famous it just peters out. Some of it is astonishingly banal and poorly written, and that's after the editor/ghost-writer has punched it up. Still loved reading it because it's Bob, but yeesh, celeb autobiographies really are the bottom of the literary barrel. Cellini/Berlioz (to name my two favourite autobiographies) it ain't.

While I agree with you about how some of it is poorly written I felt the opposite and struggled with his early shy years / misery at university, and only found it interesting once he met Vic.

mr. logic

He said in an interview that he his instinct was to fill it with silly made up stories and he was talked out of it by an editor or publisher or something. I wish he had stuck with his gut, to be honest.

Famous Mortimer

"Voyages of Delusion" by Glyn Williams

Ever since I read "The Terror" years back, I've had an interest in the attempts to find the Northwest Passage, and this book is just about that. As much about the political reasons behind these attempts as the voyages themselves, it's really interesting.

samadriel

I'm listening to the audiobook of "The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma" by Bessel van der Kolk, on the recommendation of a friend. Still in the early chapters, and it seems really good - I constantly struggle, I must say, with the stories of trauma victims, as someone very sensitive to the bad things that have happened to me, but who has never suffered things like rape or war atrocities. I feel a constant vacillating sense of "oh yeah, that's just like how I react to memories of my childhood beatings" and then, "I haven't experienced anything remotely like what these people have". You'd think it would put me off, but it's still a great book, I can see why is been such a big seller.

Famous Mortimer

"Rainbow Stories" by William Vollman

Not sure why I owned this, presumably a recommendation from some other author I liked years ago. Rubs your nose in the worst and most wretched parts of humanity for several hundred pages, and my tolerance for that sort of thing is fairly low.

"The causes of the English Civil War" by Ann Hughes
Spends its introduction downplaying the use of trying to find the causes of things, which is at least an interesting idea. Perhaps slightly too much about the debates around history than the history itself, which might be of use to some people but isn't ideal for the general reader. At least, that's what I got from it.

Perhaps, as a moderately depressed socialist, this sort of thing just isn't for me. I've enjoyed some very dark writing in my life, but reality is unpleasant enough to not need to delve too deep into it for my entertainment, at least these days. There are enough dystopias that now sound like an optimistic view of the next 50 years that I'd rather read about spaceships in post-scarcity economies than be reminded that, yes, the world is getting shitter all the time.

shagatha crustie

Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel

Having previously only really known Mantel as 'that one who wrote Wolf Hall that everyone went on about,' I've recently been alerted to her talents beyond historical fiction. The short story collection The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher was interesting enough but (I thought) broadly hit and miss, so I was ready to give up there, but was lent Beyond Black and it's brilliant. So much more energy and enthusiasm than in the short stories, several of which felt like first drafts.

It's about a spiritual medium and her assistant and their work in the wake of Princess Diana's death. With its magical realism, dark humour and focus on a larger-than-life female 'performer' it's reminding me somewhat of Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter, but much bleaker. It brilliantly co-articulates the nothingy 'edgelands' just outside London with the existence of a supernatural realm that is all the more malevolent and frightening for its mundanity and similarity to the 'living' world. The writing is spry, witty and brutal in places, with an undercurrent of anger; it troubles the line between ghostly manifestations and the actual psychological 'hauntings' of childhood trauma.

Prior to that I read Promised You A Miracle: UK80-82 by Andy Beckett, an intelligent and entertaining distillation of the atmosphere in Britain in the early years of the Thatcher administration. He paints Thatcher as less of a driven ideologue and more of an incompetent, who seized on monetarist economic policy out of desperation and hit a lucky strike with the Falklands. Through a series of closeups on a wide cast of characters (GLC staff and Livingstone himself, ABC and other New Romantic groups, the Greenham Common activists, early Channel 4 execs) he tacitly argues that the individualism of the era cut across all political standpoints, creating a highly muddled period where right-wing realpolitik was carried out in the name of left-wing ideology and vice-versa. Would highly recommend!

Artie Fufkin

Quote from: shagatha crustie on January 17, 2022, 06:23:20 PMBeyond Black by Hilary Mantel

Having previously only really known Mantel as 'that one who wrote Wolf Hall that everyone went on about,' I've recently been alerted to her talents beyond historical fiction. The short story collection The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher was interesting enough but (I thought) broadly hit and miss, so I was ready to give up there, but was lent Beyond Black and it's brilliant. So much more energy and enthusiasm than in the short stories, several of which felt like first drafts.

It's about a spiritual medium and her assistant and their work in the wake of Princess Diana's death. With its magical realism, dark humour and focus on a larger-than-life female 'performer' it's reminding me somewhat of Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter, but much bleaker. It brilliantly co-articulates the nothingy 'edgelands' just outside London with the existence of a supernatural realm that is all the more malevolent and frightening for its mundanity and similarity to the 'living' world. The writing is spry, witty and brutal in places, with an undercurrent of anger; it troubles the line between ghostly manifestations and the actual psychological 'hauntings' of childhood trauma.

Well, fuck my old boots. I read this when it first came out (paperback), and I've only clicked that it was Mantel. I mean, I knew it was written by Mantel at the time, but I didn't know who Mantel was back then (obvs), and I'd subsequently forgotten it was Mantel.
I remember struggling a little with it, but appreciated it was written well. I liked her pervy ghost companion(?). Can't really remember a lot about it now.
I do remember buying it specifically for the cover.

shagatha crustie

Quote from: Artie Fufkin on January 18, 2022, 02:14:36 PMWell, fuck my old boots. I read this when it first came out (paperback), and I've only clicked that it was Mantel. I mean, I knew it was written by Mantel at the time, but I didn't know who Mantel was back then (obvs), and I'd subsequently forgotten it was Mantel.
I remember struggling a little with it, but appreciated it was written well. I liked her pervy ghost companion(?). Can't really remember a lot about it now.
I do remember buying it specifically for the cover.

That's mad! Guess it's a perfect illustration of how she was a popular/respected novelist in her own right before Wolf Hall, but the double Booker superstardom made such a 'name' for her that her old stuff didn't really get a look in. I watched an old BBC Four doc about her the other night and it covered that aspect of her career, but it did really put me off the Cromwell novels, with 'actors' doing terrible hammy readings against white backgrounds.

phosphoresce

I didn't find Beyond Black near the level of the Cromwell books. But the dynamics between the main character and her bitchy assistant are well observed, and lots of memorable turns of phrase.

I'm reading Malcolm Gaskill's books about witchcraft and early modern history. Just finished The Ruin of Witches, a gripping and sympathetic account of a witch craze in New England. If retail management doesn't work out I might consider the old witch finding.

Artie Fufkin

Quote from: Artie Fufkin on January 07, 2022, 10:15:57 AMJust started (about 30 pages in) reading Francis Spuffords' Light Perpetual.
Finished this the other day. Really really good,
Spoiler alert
considering not a lot happens
[close]
.
Really well written. I'm definitely going to read more of his. I have Golden Hill in my 'to read' pile, so will get on with that later. He reminds me of David Mitchell.

Ray Travez

Harriet Dyer- Bi-polar Comedian

The first half is very funny; last third meanders a bit into moans about (admittedly awful-sounding) flatmates. Recommended, well the first two thirds certainly.

Famous Mortimer

Blood Brothers

About the friendship between Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali. The authors apparently had access to more documents than previous authors, but unfortunately they lean on that stuff a bit too heavily, with certain chapters not much more than an extremely close timeline. Still, it's interesting to have it all in one place.

As even-handed as it is, I didn't come out of it liking Ali more than I did before, although it does mention in the epilogue that many years later, he admitted he was wrong to so completely abandon Malcolm, just because the Nation Of Islam told him to. I didn't know anything about Elijah Muhammad, first leader of the NOI and another idiot who thought he was divine, and the book is so negative about him that it's a surprise he led such a large organisation and fathered at least 6 kids with women other than his wife.

It's okay about Malcolm himself, who seems to be one of the few people who was serious about the religious side of things. But it's silent (apart from one paragraph of speculation) on the stories of the US government's involvement in his murder. Perhaps there was nothing to it, but the authors don't seem interested in exploring that at all.

Lots of interesting stuff in it, but I wouldn't suggest it as your first book about either man.


Famous Mortimer

"Time Travel: A History" by James Gleick

The concept of time travel, like building something and traveling with it, has only been around since HG Wells dreamed it up. Also, the book tells me, the first example of a "centennial" celebration was 1876, but that's not really anything to do with anything, I just thought it was a cool fact.

Anyway, Gleick goes through time travel, from the perspective of fiction, science, history, dreams, philosophy, and it's really interesting - you'll almost certainly want to dig into the bibliography after you've finished reading it. I really like Gleick's book about chaos, and I'm looking forward to reading his book "The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood" soon.

gilbertharding

Just finished the Cider With Rosie trilogy, which I last read bits of more than 35 years ago at school so it doesn't really count. It was dead interesting. The description of a childhood in a village felt quite familiar to me, although the 1970s were obviously very different to the 1930s. The change in that way of life happened just before he left his own village. I think a change of similar magnitude probably happened just after I left mine.

I didn't know very much about the Spanish Civil War, but it sounds shit to me. Never really realised that 'The Rebels' were the fascists. Of course they won. I had better read Orwell and Hemingway's versions.

Speaking of life in more innocent times, I am now reading Diary of a Rock n Roll Star by Ian 'Unter - on the recommendation of ChartMusic.com.

timebug

Just read John Cooper Clarkes 'I Wanna Be Yours' on the recomendation if a friend. Now I have always liked JCC's poetry and have a couple of his albums; sadly, for me, this book compares with another one I read last year, in the 'hey look at me I'm a junkie' stakes. Various bits put me off the bloke altogether. I have no axe to grind with anyone who decides to be chemically stimulated all the time, it's their life to fuck up as they please. But he seems to make a virtue of it at times, 'I was totally off me face but still played a blinder' type of crap. Reckon I probably wouldn't like him much if I met him, which is a pity,as his poems still work some kind of magic for me!

shagatha crustie

Look at Me by Anita Brookner.

So far, one of the more depressing novels I've read. It's truly uncomfortable to behold the pathological self-effacement of the librarian narrator; especially now that she is in thrall to obviously socially toxic psychopaths just because she's so deeply lonely. I get the feeling things are going to pan out very badly for somebody.

I enjoyed the passage about her workplace at the beginning, it set up some very interesting parallel ideas around academic archivism and visual conceptions of melancholy, madness and death as they figure men and women throughout history. I hope that's explored further.

Famous Mortimer

"Jason And The Argonauts Through The Ages" by Jason Colavito

Talks about how the myth has changed, been adapted for different times, and how there's no real one original version of it. He even mentions the 1963 film and says "this is how you all probably know about it". I'm only just starting it, but it seems pretty interesting so far.


shagatha crustie

Finished Look At Me and was delighted to find I had Got It All Wrong. The book was certainly poignant and deeply sad in places but nowhere near the misery-fest I was expecting. It evolved into the internal struggles of a very likeable and complex heroine, whose attempts to negotiate being a solitary writer/'observer' versus a social 'participator' were very poignant and true to life. Absolutely loved this, and Brookner was astonishingly prolific so will have to get stuck into some of the others.

QuoteOnce a thing is known it can never be unknown. It can only be forgotten. And, in a way that bends time, so long as it is remembered, it will indicate the future. It is wiser, in every circumstance, to forget, to cultivate the art of forgetting. To remember is to face the enemy. The truth lies in remembering.

QuoteIt was then that I saw the business of writing for what it truly was and is to me. It is your penance for not being lucky. It is an attempt to reach others and to make them love you. It is your instinctive protest, when you find you have no voice at the world's tribunals, and that no one will speak for you. I would give my entire output of words, past, present and to come, in exchange for easier access to the world, for permission to state "I hurt" or " I hate" or " I want". Or indeed, "Look at me". And I do not go back on this. For once a thing is known it can never be unknown. It can only be forgotten. And writing is the enemy of forgetfulness, or thoughtlessness. For the writer there is no oblivion. Only endless memory.

Next up, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, which I've wanted to read for a long time.

In Persuasion, when Louisa wants to show she's determined to jump from the Cobb at Lyme a second time and Wentworth thinks 'the jar too great' is 'the jar' a spatial description about the Higher and Lower Cobb, or a description of the shock of landing, mentioned with the first jump. Former would be anticipating the danger, latter only pain, before Louisa's jump. I was trying to make the former fit at first reading; now leaning towards the latter. Or a third reading could be the jar of the strong wind.

QuoteThere was too much wind to make the high part of the new Cobb pleasant for the ladies, and they agreed to get down the steps to the lower, and all were contented to pass quietly and carefully down the steep flight, excepting Louisa; she must be jumped down them by Captain Wentworth. In all their walks, he had had to jump her from the stiles; the sensation was delightful to her. The hardness of the pavement for her feet, made him less willing upon the present occasion; he did it, however. She was safely down, and instantly, to show her enjoyment, ran up the steps to be jumped down again. He advised her against it, thought the jar too great; but no, he reasoned and talked in vain, she smiled and said, "I am determined I will:" he put out his hands; she was too precipitate by half a second, she fell on the pavement on the Lower Cobb, and was taken up lifeless! There was no wound, no blood, no visible bruise; but her eyes were closed, she breathed not, her face was like death. The horror of the moment to all who stood around!

gilbertharding

100 Years of Solitude.

Another book I last attempted to read many, many years ago. It was the favourite book of my first girlfriend, so some complicated memories ahead.

Famous Mortimer

Paul Malmont - "The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril"

The bloke who wrote Doc Savage, the bloke who wrote The Shadow, and L Ron Hubbard, tell each other pulp stories and solve a mystery (which starts, mostly, at HP Lovecraft's funeral). Perhaps a bit too knowing with its endless references, but it's good fun.

Malmont is now the writer of the DC Doc Savage line, or was (no idea if it's still going), so good on him I suppose.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: shagatha crustie on February 02, 2022, 02:03:24 PMNext up, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, which I've wanted to read for a long time.

I hope you like it, I'm a huge fan and I don't always click with Chabon, I'm very fond of Wonder Boys and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh but gave up on The Yiddish Policemen's Union after about twenty pages as I found it strangely annoying, though do plan to return to it one day.

I'm currently two thirds of the way through My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad, most of the time I've enjoyed it a lot but the amount of repetition sometimes drives me a bit mad, I know it's something he's deliberately doing and it often makes me laugh out loud, but once I've finished it I hope I never here the phrase ""Why should I lie...to the grave it's ah, ah..." ever again.

kalowski

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on February 05, 2022, 06:54:59 PMI hope you like it, I'm a huge fan and I don't always click with Chabon, I'm very fond of Wonder Boys and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh but gave up on The Yiddish Policemen's Union after about twenty pages as I found it strangely annoying, though do plan to return to it one day.

Kavalier and Klay is magnificent, his best novel. If I were you I'd give The Yiddish Policemen's Union another try as it's great. The only Chabon I gave up on was Telegraph Avenue, although I've not read The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.