jazzbo Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 I reread "On the Road" in the "scroll version" last year, which was significantly improved over the edited, released version. Just started Roger Zelazney's "Guns of Avalon." (Not the first time I've read it!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 For some reason, I've have this desire to read a lot of Faulkner, so I'm starting with The Sound and the Fury. The April Seventh, 1928 chapter is amazing. Oh, yeah! That chapter is what yanked SF out of my hands and told me that these here 'classics' thingies might be worth checking out. Wow! You can remember the specific thing that did it for you. I can't remember, but in my case I don't think it was one thing but just sort an increasing tendency toward so-called "mainstream" fiction in 11th and 12th grade. Whereas, if you had tried to get me to go that way in 9th grade I'd have probably replied, "What do I need the mainstream for? I've got Ursula K. LeGuin!" I had a very selective (lack-of-) thought process with mainstream fiction. For example, I think I had Yeates' The Second Coming practically memorized in the tenth grade, but it never occurred to me that I might find other poetry interesting. Even discovering Camus in the eleventh grade didn't help. Heck, it was kind of like Aldiss anyway... I'm embarrassed to say that my conversion didn't occur until much later, around age 25 or 26, and is very scattered! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 Just started Roger Zelazney's "Guns of Avalon." (Not the first time I've read it!) I reread Jack of Shadows a couple of months ago just to see how it was, and was thinking about going through the Amber books again, but I don't know if I'm up to it. How's it holding up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 Well, at a used book store I found all ten Amber books in paperback for a total of ten dollars. I don't have high expectations of them, I just wanted to have some books I could read and slip in my back pocket as I go around places and these fill the bill. (I read a long string of books that seemed to weigh a few pounds!) They're fun. They hold up okay if you don't think through too hard. I'm not enjoying them like I did when I was reading them upon first publication, but I'm definitely not that guy any longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 Now about to start Kerouac's "On The Road" On the Road should be read with the right sort of music in the background. Suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 Charlie Parker, Gerry Mulligan, Slim Gaillard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko Posted June 28, 2009 Report Share Posted June 28, 2009 (edited) Now about to start Kerouac's "On The Road" On the Road should be read with the right sort of music in the background. Suggestions? back when i bought my first kerouac book (subterraneans) i actually bought a cd to listen to while reading; wanted to have some "hard bebop" (not hard bop) and i still think that's a good idea... with my limited knowledge i bought an art blakey compilation, still one of my first 15 cds or so, which was not exactly was i wanted but close enough (compact jazz art blakey, started with the session with gigi gryce/joe gordon which was most suitable...); today i would probably recommend some sonny stitt (together again with gene ammons, john houston...) or maybe "smack up" by art pepper.... an alternative would of course be something by "white beatniks" (guess one could discuss the appropriateness of that term for hours) tony fruscella, zoot sims with jerry lloyd, brew moore... agree with chuck... it's only 12 years ago for me and i still know quite a bit by heart (mostly subterraneans) but i wouldn't want to go there again (and i must admit, political correctness does concern me, concerned me even then but not that much; people in books doing drugs is fine with me but proud tales of sex tourism aren't) read one flew over the cuckoo's nest at about the same time and it didn't do anything for me btw Edited June 28, 2009 by Niko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niko Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 vaguely related to on the road plus i'm just reading it though it's not a book... look at this July 1965 village voice and say once more that jazz is still as alive as it was then... http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=i2wQA...azz+ray+bremser Half Note: Zoot Sims and Al Cohen with extra added attraction jimmy rushing Village Gate: Thelonious Monk and John Colrane (not together, i guess?) Slugs: Hank Mobley, then Pepper Adams/Thad Jones Harout's Restaurant: Jackie McLean All Star Quintet Village Vanguard: Mose Allison and Sheila Jordan, and on tuesday Sonny Rollins two pages later in the classifieds there is steve kuhn offering ear training... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 Finished the last of Thomas Merton's Journals. Have very mixed emotions about Merton's life after reading all seven volumes, they do not paint Merton is the best of lights, and in fact, showed Merton's failure as a religious. It is very obvious by the journals that Merton was a conflicted person; striving to find God, live as a hermit, but his emotional make-up did not allow him to do that. One of the tragedies of the whole thing is Merton's inability to pull his life together, in fact, in volume five you witness his disintegration over his falling in love with a student nurse -- he was in very bad shape during that time. By the time he gets to his trip to the Far East, even he knows that his time is up at the monastery in Kentucky, and he will wind up somewhere else. Even so, he dies on that trip, and the casket is flown to his monastery, where he is buried. A very difficult life to understand, where he kept on proclaiming how he wanted to be left alone, and yet, he was unable to accomplish what he wanted his life to be. Truthfully, his last couple of years were a mess. Closed the last journal with a tremendous sense of sadness... Saw a fascinating documentary on the life of Thomas Merton on public television a week or so ago. Kept your comments in mind. While his life may have been a failure in some ways, I found the film utterly riveting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poetrylover3 Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 Now reading: Public Enemies-a very interesting corrective to the FBI propoganda I read while growing up such as The FBI Story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdavenport Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 (edited) Finished "On The Road". I neither loved it nor hated it. As a homebound square, there was the vicarious thrill of the "life less ordinary" and all that, but I'm sure Dean Moriarty would annoy the piss out of me. Edited July 6, 2009 by rdavenport Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 I'm sure Dean Moriarty would annoy the piss out of me. Having been brought up on the Goon Show, I could never take seriously anyone called Moriarty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted July 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 David Grann, THE LOST CITY OF Z: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 David Grann, THE LOST CITY OF Z: I've heard good things about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdavenport Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich Fine book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 Yes, I remembe reading a number of AS books fondly. Right now, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdavenport Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich Fine book! I'm almost entirely ignorant of the wider story of the Russian politics of the time, but I'm enjoying the simplicity of the prose. I've only dabbled in Russian literature (Dostoyevsky, Gogol and some Tolstoy) but I find it speaks to me somehow. All bleak and cold and filled with injustice - don't know what that says about me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich Fine book! I'm almost entirely ignorant of the wider story of the Russian politics of the time, but I'm enjoying the simplicity of the prose. I've only dabbled in Russian literature (Dostoyevsky, Gogol and some Tolstoy) but I find it speaks to me somehow. All bleak and cold and filled with injustice - don't know what that says about me! I've read some tremendous novels that came out of Stalinist oppression: First Circle, also by Solzhenitsyn, Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon and Victor Serge's The Case of Comrade Tulayev. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdavenport Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich Fine book! I'm almost entirely ignorant of the wider story of the Russian politics of the time, but I'm enjoying the simplicity of the prose. I've only dabbled in Russian literature (Dostoyevsky, Gogol and some Tolstoy) but I find it speaks to me somehow. All bleak and cold and filled with injustice - don't know what that says about me! I've read some tremendous novels that came out of Stalinist oppression: First Circle, also by Solzhenitsyn, Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon and Victor Serge's The Case of Comrade Tulayev. I shall bear those in mind Bill, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich Fine book! I'm almost entirely ignorant of the wider story of the Russian politics of the time, but I'm enjoying the simplicity of the prose. I've only dabbled in Russian literature (Dostoyevsky, Gogol and some Tolstoy) but I find it speaks to me somehow. All bleak and cold and filled with injustice - don't know what that says about me! I've read some tremendous novels that came out of Stalinist oppression: First Circle, also by Solzhenitsyn, Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon and Victor Serge's The Case of Comrade Tulayev. Darkness At Noon is a great one. Though it's been ages, admittedly, since I read it, the book left a lasting impression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillF Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich Fine book! I'm almost entirely ignorant of the wider story of the Russian politics of the time, but I'm enjoying the simplicity of the prose. I've only dabbled in Russian literature (Dostoyevsky, Gogol and some Tolstoy) but I find it speaks to me somehow. All bleak and cold and filled with injustice - don't know what that says about me! I've read some tremendous novels that came out of Stalinist oppression: First Circle, also by Solzhenitsyn, Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon and Victor Serge's The Case of Comrade Tulayev. Darkness At Noon is a great one. Though it's been ages, admittedly, since I read it, the book left a lasting impression. Yes, I'd say it was the best of the three. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted July 9, 2009 Report Share Posted July 9, 2009 Glenn Miller and His Orchestra by George T. Simon. I happen to enjoy this book tremendously, but, then, I love Glenn Miller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal Posted July 10, 2009 Report Share Posted July 10, 2009 "The Mexican Revolution" - Adolfo Gilly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medjuck Posted July 13, 2009 Report Share Posted July 13, 2009 Hound Dog: The Lieber-Stoller autobiography. Good stuff. More jazz references than I would have suspected. Stoller studied with James P Johnson and gigged with Chet Baker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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