palahniuk's "diary" was a great read, much stronger than "lullaby" was. i recently picked up a bunch of books by mikhail bulgakov (the master and margarita), celine (journey to the end of the night), leonard cohen (beautiful losers) and ellis (less than zero).

At Borders yesterday I read the Big Black section of "Our Band Could Be Your Life" in one sitting.

thanks

I'm a functioning illiterate.

Lately I've been reading the Phaidon retrospective on the late Gordon Matta-Clark. Amazing conceptual artist. While the book is a bit too textually self-consciously pomo/artcrit, the images and the no-longer-extant works themselves are mind-blowingly beautiful.

A few latest (all at least OK):

George Orwell: 1984 (maybe the best book ever)
Crimethinc: Days of war, nights of love
Dostojevksi: The Brothers Karmazov (man, that was long)
Naomi Klein: No Logo (still reading, seems OK)

A few latest (all at least OK):

George Orwell: 1984 (maybe the best book ever)
Crimethinc: Days of war, nights of love
Dostojevksi: The Brothers Karmazov (man, that was long)
Naomi Klein: No Logo (still reading, seems OK)

LIAM wrote:I've just finished "Fargo Rock City" by Chuck Klosterman. A pretty humourous attempt to legitimize hair metal. It gave me the urge to buy a new copy of Appetite For Destruction.

I just flipped through this yesterday, and it does look pretty good. I like the timeline and the way it illustrates the very short rise and fall of hair metal. I think I'll try to find it used, though.

yawn wrote:At Borders yesterday I read the Big Black section of "Our Band Could Be Your Life" in one sitting.

thanks

You (or anybody) really should pick this book up - it's a keeper. Great stories and it gives hope for the future of "independent" music.

Excellent. A book thread.

Second on the Our Band Could Be Your Life recommendation

Just read an excellent "future noir" book By Richard K. Morgan called "Altered Carbon" - excellent in a Lethem/Dick combo.

Still reading the aforementioned bio on Groucho Marx. Can't remember who wrote it but will post because it covers ground at a quick and witty pace.

Would put in a plug for the books written by George P. Pelecanos - D.C. crimenoir "detective" novels that encapsulate tremendous amounts of cultural/social mores, educational race interation and excellence in music tastes. Also, the writer for the second/ongoing season of HBO's The Wire.

Was given this book " Media Democracy in Action: Censored 2004 - The Top 25 Censored Stories" which is a handy retread of Zinn-like analysis from the past year. Good pickup-start-anyware.

Have read the new Stephen King "Wolves of the Calla" - typically King has been a good quick "eye-candy" read but the Dark Tower/associated books are developing story arcs quite nicely into a fictional world that could slot quite nicely between works of David Lynch and C.S. Lewis/Tolkien.

I found that the Patrick O'Brian "Master and Commander" book was one of the most incomprehensible books I've gotten all of the way through.
It's pretty good, but without decades of seafearing life under my belt I might as well have been reading it backwards.

Re-reading Philip K. Dick's "The Divine Invasion" while I wait to buy something new.

Agree with all Eggers/Palahniuk statements except that I liked "Lullaby" and haven't read "Diary" yet.

Dennis Lehane's "Mystic River" was much better than I expected, and written very well.

Oh yes and William Gibson's "Pattern Recognition" is, again, a stunning detail of the edge of current paradigms.


Ooookay, gotta get a life.

if what you're saying is true (regarding the dark tower series developing into a lynch/cs lewis esque work) it's unfortunate that he took so long between the 3rd and 4th books. i read the first three when i was in grade school and by the time the 4th one came out, i was almost done with college and couldnt remember any of the plotlines, so i didnt even bother trying to read it...

oh well.

andyk

Mr. Chimp wrote:Have read the new Stephen King "Wolves of the Calla" - typically King has been a good quick "eye-candy" read but the Dark Tower/associated books are developing story arcs quite nicely into a fictional world that could slot quite nicely between works of David Lynch and C.S. Lewis/Tolkien.