Now reading...

[Rabshakeh]

14 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:

Merging Lines: American Railroads 1900-1970, by Richard Saunders, Jr..  He does a good job of pulling an interesting narrative out of the sea of detail that is railroading in 20th Century America.  Lots of maps and other facts and figures, but not overwhelmingly so.  Surely the most thoroughly documented industry ever?  Like baseball, it just seems to lend itself to obsessing over details and stats.  My dad loved trains and so do I, so this renewed interest works for me on many levels.

It's an interesting topic. The story of how a country was built. 

[mjazzg]

William Langland - Piers Plowman

[Rabshakeh]

4 hours ago, mjazzg said:

William Langland - Piers Plowman

Gosh. Getting stuck in ahead of the inevitable next lockdown?

Edited July 23, 2021 by Rabshakeh

[mjazzg]

9 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

Gosh. Getting stuck in ahead of the inevitable next lockdown?

Ha ha! Yes, a light summer read.  The edition I have, Oxford World Classics, is surprisingly readable, so far.

Inspired by R4's 'In Our Time' a few months ago.

Edited July 23, 2021 by mjazzg

[danasgoodstuff]

18 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

It's an interesting topic. The story of how a country was built. 

And then nearly fell apart in its moment of triumph.  RRs are not just a relic of the past, although they will never be as central as they once were.  But they are very well documented (except maybe 'what were they thinking'), but all that data leaves plenty of room for interpretation.  And they impinge on all other sorts of things.  It's hard to not be nostalgic for a time when jazz was jazz, blues was blues, country was country, and the train went everywhere.  I know better, but it's still hard.  Just the sight or sound of a train makes me happy.

[rostasi]

[rostasi]

[felser]

Fascinating book

[jlhoots]

Douglas Stuart: Shuggie Bain

[mjazzg]

Just started Louise Erdrich - The Night Watchman

Prompted by a jhoots post a while back

[Bluesnik]

On 6/19/2021 at 0:49 AM, ghost of miles said:

I recently found out while researching Christiane F. that she has a book called I, Christiane F. My second life from 2015, where she narrates how dreadful her live has been and still is.

[NIS]

On 8/23/2021 at 1:48 PM, mjazzg said:

Just started Louise Erdrich - The Night Watchman

Prompted by a jhoots post a while back

Just finished "The Night Watchman".  Going to the library to find some more Erdrich.

[jlhoots]

43 minutes ago, NIS said:

Just finished "The Night Watchman".  Going to the library to find some more Erdrich.

There's plenty that's worthwhile!!

[ghost of miles]

Recently re-read William Maxwell's So Long, See You Tomorrow and am now re-reading his earlier novel the Folded Leaf, both via Library of America volumes of his work.  Beautifully-written books, and while it's hard to say that a writer canonized in the LOA is "underrated," I think more present-day attention would not be unwarranted:

[ghost of miles]

[Bluesnik]

A mesmerizing book about Krautrock. Not only that, it's also about the rebuilding of postwar Germany, as the krautrockers seeked to build a new mode of expression leaving old Germany and also English/American imperialism behind. They were late 60s hippies, and it's all too understandable. And the book is very well written and documented. I can feel that as a half German. I used to spend all my summers in Germany in the 60s (as a kid) and the 70s (as a teenager), and the first 80s (as a twen). And I've got a feeling for what that country was up to. The author, from whom I'm also expecting another book on the history of electronica (Mars by 1980), seems to have a deep knowledge of Germany going back to his own schooldays.

[jlhoots]

C.J. Box: Dark Sky (A Joe Pickett novel)

[jlhoots]

Sally Rooney: Beautiful World, Where Are You

[mjazzg]

12 hours ago, jlhoots said:

Sally Rooney: Beautiful World, Where Are You

That has a fair deal to live up to given the hype and expectation created by 'Normal People'.  I'm waiting for the paperback

One that doesn't quite live up to the hype in my opinion but before that I read one that most definitely does

Beautifully written 

Between those two I read this which was a stimulating read

[ghost of miles]

Fascinating memoir that puts me in mind of my own grandfather, whose large house in Indianapolis’ Woodruff Place neighborhood was also filled with books—though perhaps not as many as Chimen Abramsky possessed:

[BillF]

[jlhoots]

Craig Johnson: Daughter Of The Morning Star (A Longmire novel)

[medjuck]

Just finished reading the complete published (in book form)  works of Frank Conroy-- a total of 5 books, four of which are pretty short.

"Stop Time": a rather disturbing memoir.

"Body and Soul": One of the best novels about music I've read.  

"Mid Air": A collection of short stories.

"Time and Tide": a book about Nantucket, part of the "Crown Journeys Series".

"Dog's Bark, but the Caravan Rolls On": a collection of articles and essays several about music and musicians in which we learn that Conroy sometimes supported himself as a piano player who jammed  with (amongst others) Mingus, Paul Desmond and Charlie Watts. He writes that after Mingus had "...once again sat in with me. "What's going on, Charlie? You're the best bassist in the world and I'm a putzer."  

   "You are," he said expansively, "an authentic primitive. That is true." He leaned forward and lowered his voice. "But you swing."

He does indeed. 

 

 

[Brad]

[BillF]