Now reading...

[Kalo]

Just finished Tibor Fisher's The Thought Gang. Sort of annoying and kind of enjoyable at the same time. Pulp Fiction meets Philosophy 101.

Just before that I read Geoff Nicholson's Everything and More. It's the fifth book I've read by him. He's an enjoyably dark British comic novelist, yet not without substance either. He's learned a lot from my favorite living (American) novelist, Thomas Berger. If that sounds intriguing, start with Bleeding London and proceed from there.

[JohnJ]

Just finished Tibor Fisher's The Thought Gang. Sort of annoying and kind of enjoyable at the same time. Pulp Fiction meets Philosophy 101.

Nothing annoying about 'The Thought Gang' for me. I thought it was hilarious and recommended it to all my friends.

Currently reading 'The Final Country' by James Crumley. Probably my favorite modern crime writer.

[Kalo]

Just finished Tibor Fisher's The Thought Gang. Sort of annoying and kind of enjoyable at the same time. Pulp Fiction meets Philosophy 101.

Nothing annoying about 'The Thought Gang' for me. I thought it was hilarious and recommended it to all my friends.

Currently reading 'The Final Country' by James Crumley. Probably my favorite modern crime writer.

What's the deal with Crumley, John J? Haven't caught up with him, but I like a good crime novel.

I found The Thought Gang quite funny, too, by the way. But there was something a bit labored about it. Still superior to 90% of what's out there. Anyone read his new one?

[BruceH]

Just finished Tibor Fisher's The Thought Gang. Sort of annoying and kind of enjoyable at the same time. Pulp Fiction meets Philosophy 101.

Just before that I read Geoff Nicholson's Everything and More. It's the fifth book I've read by him. He's an enjoyably dark British comic novelist, yet not without substance either. He's learned a lot from my favorite living (American) novelist, Thomas Berger. If that sounds intriguing, start with Bleeding London and proceed from there.

That sounds intriguing...

[ghost of miles]

Mary Gaitskill, VERONICA.

[frank m]

Ghost of Miles------Would you care to give us a capsule review of the Brubeck bio.

and BTW--I'm astonished at your literary intake. How do you manage it? I'm retired and read a good deal but I'm put to shame by your volume. How DO you do it"

[Kalo]

Just before that I read Geoff Nicholson's Everything and More. It's the fifth book I've read by him. He's an enjoyably dark British comic novelist, yet not without substance either. He's learned a lot from my favorite living (American) novelist, Thomas Berger. If that sounds intriguing, start with Bleeding London and proceed from there.

That sounds intriguing...

Yeah, Nicholson's quite enjoyable. I first read him because I had seen a short interview with him where he talked about stealing from Berger. He's not as deep as Berger at his best, nor as fine a prose stylist, but he reminds me of later Berger in particular, in the way he'll take an odd premise and really run with it. At the very least, his books are among the most intelligent entertainments being written today. You'll dig him too, BruceH for the attention he pays to architecture, which figures more prominently in his books than most any other author I can think of. I've enjoyed all the books I've read by him and I plan to get around to all of them at some point.

Jonathan Lethem is a vocal Berger fan (influenced by his serious genre parodies, I'm guessing?) as well as a Phillip Dick fanatic, but I haven't gotten around to reading him yet.

Edited December 11, 2005 by Kalo

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

Been slowly working my way through a book I'd read (well, sort of ) in college -- The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa about an educator who was around (1835-1901) to witness the vast changes that took place during Japan's transformation from isolated feudal state. Interesting guy who first visited the U.S. in 1860 as a crew member on what was the first ever trans-Pacific voyage to the U.S. of a Japanese warship (purchased from the Dutch). The funny thing is, the ship was basically escorting another ship that was carrying Japan's first envoy to visit Washington......but the envoy was being ferried over on the U.S. warship! Interesting observations about his later travels in Europe and subsequent return to Japan where the anti-foreigner pot was about boiling over (1863) with explusion decrees being issued in Kyoto, and all sorts of attacks upon Dutch, English & US vessels...

[jazzbo]

Been doing research and am reading an interesting book about The Revelation of Saint John (Revelation: Down to Earth, by Edwin Walhout), a pastoral interpretation that is so different from the "Revelations as triumpant future history" that is usually bandied about.

Also purchased and will work my way through this coming year (if you have seen this you would know this is a realistic target period of time!) The Oxford History of Christian Worship. Quite a phenomenal work.

[Matthew]

Been doing research and am reading an interesting book about The Revelation of Saint John (Revelation: Down to Earth, by Edwin Walhout), a pastoral interpretation that is so different from the "Revelations as triumpant future history" that is usually bandied about.

That's what so many Christians forget about Revelations; it was written to a particular faith community to give them comfort in their trails and persecution, it was never meant to be a blueprint for the end of the world.

[jazzbo]

Agreed. But man oh man I know so many who see this as a Time magazine from the week of Armeggedon.

[BruceH]

Just before that I read Geoff Nicholson's Everything and More. It's the fifth book I've read by him. He's an enjoyably dark British comic novelist, yet not without substance either. He's learned a lot from my favorite living (American) novelist, Thomas Berger. If that sounds intriguing, start with Bleeding London and proceed from there.

That sounds intriguing...

Yeah, Nicholson's quite enjoyable. I first read him because I had seen a short interview with him where he talked about stealing from Berger. He's not as deep as Berger at his best, nor as fine a prose stylist, but he reminds me of later Berger in particular, in the way he'll take an odd premise and really run with it. At the very least, his books are among the most intelligent entertainments being written today. You'll dig him too, BruceH for the attention he pays to architecture, which figures more prominently in his books than most any other author I can think of. I've enjoyed all the books I've read by him and I plan to get around to all of them at some point.

Maybe I'll check out Nicholson after the holidays....

[paul secor]

Paul Auster: Hand to Mouth

[jazzbo]

The latest "Jazzbeat" from George H. Buck. .. with Butterbeans and Susie on the cover.

[Kalo]

Just finished England's Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond by Jon Savage.

A fine, thoughtful history of an explosive, watershed period in rock music, written by an eyewitness.

Edited December 19, 2005 by Kalo

[ejp626]

I really enjoyed The Thought Gang, though it goes off the rail in a few places. I don't think Tibor's other books have been nearly as good.

Anyway, I will probably regret it, in terms of sheer time commitment, but I have started Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time, which is a 12 novel sequence, tracing the lives of a few upper middle class Englishmen as they grow up from the 1930s to the late 1960s. There is some psychological insight, though not nearly as saturated as Proust, say. Powell's work looks very much in the same vein as Trollope and Galsworthy, which are fundamentally about interacting in and getting ahead in society.

[jlhoots]

Winchester: Krakatoa

For our book club.

Kind of a "slog" for me.

[Matthew]

I really enjoyed The Thought Gang, though it goes off the rail in a few places. I don't think Tibor's other books have been nearly as good.

Anyway, I will probably regret it, in terms of sheer time commitment, but I have started Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time, which is a 12 novel sequence, tracing the lives of a few upper middle class Englishmen as they grow up from the 1930s to the late 1960s. There is some psychological insight, though not nearly as saturated as Proust, say. Powell's work looks very much in the same vein as Trollope and Galsworthy, which are fundamentally about interacting in and getting ahead in society.

I've read Powell's Dance to the Music of Time twice now, and I have mixed feelings about it. It'll be interesting to read your take on the books. I would compare the writing more to Waugh instead of Trollope or Galsworthy, Powell has that cynical touch about characters and situations that reminds me of EW.

[Kalo]

I really enjoyed The Thought Gang, though it goes off the rail in a few places. I don't think Tibor's other books have been nearly as good.

Anyway, I will probably regret it, in terms of sheer time commitment, but I have started Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time, which is a 12 novel sequence, tracing the lives of a few upper middle class Englishmen as they grow up from the 1930s to the late 1960s. There is some psychological insight, though not nearly as saturated as Proust, say. Powell's work looks very much in the same vein as Trollope and Galsworthy, which are fundamentally about interacting in and getting ahead in society.

I've read Powell's Dance to the Music of Time twice now, and I have mixed feelings about it. It'll be interesting to read your take on the books. I would compare the writing more to Waugh instead of Trollope or Galsworthy, Powell has that cynical touch about characters and situations that reminds me of EW.

I've been meaning to get to Powell's Dance to the Music of Time for a while, but I'm waiting at least until I finish Proust (I'm actually almost 2/3rds done, but it could be another year or so before I finish).

Matthew, your feelings about Powell are unmixed enough for you to have read the Dance to the Music of Time sequence twice, so I'll take that as a recommendation.

[ghost of miles]

Albert Goldman & Lawrence Schiller, LADIES & GENTLEMEN--LENNY BRUCE!!

[AllenLowe]

beware - bad book full of mistakes of both fact and emphasis -

Edited December 30, 2005 by AllenLowe

[ejp626]

I've read Powell's Dance to the Music of Time twice now, and I have mixed feelings about it. It'll be interesting to read your take on the books. I would compare the writing more to Waugh instead of Trollope or Galsworthy, Powell has that cynical touch about characters and situations that reminds me of EW.

I can guarantee I won't read it twice, but I am enjoying it. I have to admit, I haven't read enough Galsworthy to see if it is really similar. The Trollope I am thinking of is the Palliser series where there are a number of shady characters and social climbers, although the majority of people are honest (despite being politicians). I would highly recommend this series if you have a spare year to read.

The narrator and the tone of the narration reminds me a fair bit of that of Ford Maddox Ford's The Good Soldier, where he is somewhat unreliable, simply because he is withholding information about the present while reporting on events of the past. Curiously, while I really enjoyed The Good Soldier, I barely made it through Parade's End and can't remember any of it (other than not liking it).

As long as we are talking about multi-volume works, I would give a big thumbs up to Durrell's Alexandria Quartet, which I hope to reread soon (maybe after I tackle Proust).

[Harold_Z]

beware - bad book full of mistakes of both fact and emphasis -

Seems to apply to any book by Goldman I've ever read.

[AllenLowe]

yes, his Elvis bio is crap too - there were several devastating reviews when his Bruce book came out, particularly, as I recall, by Nat Hentoff. I read it and it's a mess. Lawrence Schiller, his collaborator, is basically a literary ambulance chaser. Best books on Lenny are The Essential, his autobiography, and the book that came out a year or so ago on his legal battles - better yet, get the LPs and CDs -

another amazing thing is the Lenny Bruce Performance film, from the Basin Street West. Brilliant stuff-

Edited December 30, 2005 by AllenLowe

[ghost of miles]

beware - bad book full of mistakes of both fact and emphasis -

Yes, I'm treating it as a somewhat novelistic treatment of LB's life. I'll keep an eye out for THE ESSENTIAL LENNY BRUCE--I'm really eager to find something reasonably well-written about him. Been listening to that Shout! Factory compilation, though the set I picked up had no booklet--and also used an LB track for this week's Night Lights--hence my renewed interest in him right now.