Royal Oak

About 200 pages in now, and I'm still not sure how it is offensive.

Is he British? The Brits use "brilliant" a lot.

Over here in the 1990s there was a famous (well, among those circles) racing greyhound of the same name.

You have a stronger stomach than I. You are the second person in this thread to express their distaste for the book. I haven't found anything in it so far to explain why this should be so. What's the story?

It appears that the phrase "I am passionate about (insert nature of one's job here)" is mandatory in one's Twitter profile blurb. I looked up the word "passion" in my 1983 Chambers dictionary - "strong feeling or agitation of mind, esp rage, often sorrow; a fit of such feeling: ardent love: sexual desire: an enthusiastic interest or direction of the mind". I suppose there are some out there who feel very strongly about their job, but it seems to me the word has become a platitude. Not only that, but one which somehow trumps every other trait someone might display, for example, competence, reliability, intelligence, reason, stoicism, solidity, calm.

Your list is a stellar line-up of world-class words.

I finally started "Atlas Shrugged" on holiday. I'm quite enjoying it thus far (only 150 pages in)

Big balls to "passionate" and bigger balls to "stunning". Two very empty words IMO I have just prepared my children's packed lunches (for the 2000th time it seems) with a mixture of boredom, duty and stoicism.

You can read customer testimonials on the Better Records website. Number 7 made me laugh out loud - the one about the Sgt Pepper causing the listener to be unable to eat his dinner, and have to go home to be alone to contemplate what he had heard.

Jackie McLean - One Step Beyond, from the "Great Finds" thread. "Ghost Town" drove my wife from the room......

I see a lot of these LPs knocking about in charity shops, usually Ronnie Aldrich or classical though.

They were Ebay joblots.

From the same seller as the Don Rendell, I got a mono copy of Jackie McLean's "One Step Beyond". It has a price sticker saying "32/6" on the front.

Who knows, it might come in handy if the hotel runs out of toilet paper. Is that a comment on the book's literary merits, or it's political leanings? Serious question btw. Political leanings. Thanks. I suppose I'll just have to get on with reading it....

Who knows, it might come in handy if the hotel runs out of toilet paper. Is that a comment on the book's literary merits, or it's political leanings? Serious question btw.

I know, a bit of a once-in-a-lifetime event. I did a real double take when I saw it. In several years of record scouting, I have rarely found any modern jazz LPs, and certainly NEVER anything like this. I look forward to playing it tonight after I clean it (though it looks clean enough anyway).

I am trying to get started on Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged", picked up in a charity shop. It's so big, and the first couple of pages are a touch dry, so it may take a while to get going. Maybe one for the holiday in May (I'll read anything while I'm on holiday)

Today, I found copies of: Cecil Taylor "Conquistador" Charlie Haden "Liberation Music Orchestra" Don Rendell & Ian Carr Quintet "Phase III" All in a box of the most awful stuff - Mantonvani, Perry Como, Geoff Love, Jim Reeves, Organ spectaculars, Klaus Wunderlich, the Bachelors, The World of Christmas, Italian and Spanish stuff, "mood" music, the lot.

Have you read "Last Exit to Brooklyn"? Considered his major work; do you see it that way? Selby's nickname was "Cubby," so "Harry" might be a slight shift to establish a similar but not identical persona (?) Just in the middle of Last Exit. It's more of the same grimness. Another unpleasant Harry involved, as I suspected!

I watched it on TV last year, the old-fashioned way (one episode a week). I enjoyed it a lot at the time, though I felt a few holes developed in the story. Lots of parallels with the film of the same name, which I am sure you will spot as you continue watching.

Those Mike Taylor Columbias are some expensive records!

Yes, boiled sweets. I bought a bag of these from Aldi last year, in a Scottish special selection. Sour, but not sour enough IMO.

Eggzacklee

I hate the very idea of tipping. I refuse to subsidise employers.

Yes - just had a look at the archive on the BBC website. Of the first page of twenty castaways, the five that I knew were Ray Winstone, Sarah Millican, Justin Welby, Teresa May and Damien Lewis. I am vaguely aware of Roy String, so that's six at a push. Edit to say Roy Strong of course. Roy String sounds like a Martin Amis character