Cold Mountain. I read this a couple months ago. I thought it was really good. My dad suggested it and said it was the best novel he'd read in a long time. Anyway, I concur. The movie was alright at best. It was pretty much accurate to the book as far as the plot is concerned, but definitely didn't capture the vibe or impact.

The last book I finished is called The Painted Bird. Its by a polish guy who's name I can't remember at the moment. Its a story about a boy who is separated from his parents during WWII and gets put through some seriously disturbing shit. Actually reminds me of Cold Mountain in certain ways, almost like Frazier was a big fan of this book. This was a very controversial book in its day and is definitely worth a read.

Currently, I'm reading Dreamland, which is historical fiction that takes place in NYC during the early part of the last century. Pretty decent so far....

ebeam wrote:Cold Mountain. The last book I finished is called The Painted Bird. Its by a polish guy who's name I can't remember at the moment. Its a story about a boy who is separated from his parents during WWII and gets put through some seriously disturbing shit. Actually reminds me of Cold Mountain in certain ways, almost like Frazier was a big fan of this book. This was a very controversial book in its day and is definitely worth a read.

the authors name is Jerzy Kosinski. i know this because i share his last name. when my father was younger, he met somebody who gave him that book along with many others because my father told him that he was a relative. my girlfriend read it a while back and loved it...

andyk(osinski)

The Painted Bird was controversial not just because of the subject matter, but also because Kosinski was accused of plagiarism. I don't think it was ever really resolved. He went on to write other weird, not-so-great bks, one of which was made into a good movie w/Peter Sellers ("Being There").

I'm reading:
-William Vollmann "The Royal Family"
-Steve Reich "Writings About Music"
-Graham Lock "Forces In Motion" (a great bk that covers a European tour by the great Anthony Braxton quartet w/Marilyn Crispell, Gerry Hemingway, and Mark Dresser, and goes in-depth into Braxton's amazing theories/notations/worldview) (putting aside for a second that jazz sucks)

If you're a real geek, like me, read "The Mythical Man Month" - a fascinating book about the exciting, sexy, action packed, glamorous world of Software Engineering.

Angus Jung wrote:-Graham Lock "Forces In Motion" (a great bk that covers a European tour by the great Anthony Braxton quartet w/Marilyn Crispell, Gerry Hemingway, and Mark Dresser, and goes in-depth into Braxton's amazing theories/notations/worldview) (putting aside for a second that jazz sucks)

I remember reading that book and finding it humorous that the author was really sycophantic towards Braxton. He told this really funny story about his coat and a pigeon that was making Braxton out to be the second coming of jesus christ. Good stuff about the music, though.

Oswald enthusiasts should read Libra by Don DeLillo. He calls it "a novel." Imagine you're Oswald in the book depository with your mail-order rifle, trying to cap Kennedy when the fatal head shot hits -- from the front. WTF?!?! Oswald thought he was acting alone . . .

Some of DeLillo's other stuff is overwrought and too long, although technically impressive [Underworld, White Noise]. Libra, though, is a psychological creep show. Oswald's mother, Marguerite, is a major character with bizarre verbal habits; word has it that DeLillo bought a bunch of reel-to-reel tapes of her testimony out of some guy's garage in Canada.

-Excellent play by Yukio Mishima: " Madame de Sade".

-"Sonic Boom", a book about rise and scandalization of the Mp3 industry.

- Aldous Huxley - "Point Counterpoint"

I just picked up Jarhead for 3/4ths off. I read the beginning and it's real good so far. The author (Swofford I think) was a marine during the first gulf "war" and tells about his experiences. He's not a Bush fan.

I liked Delillo's White Noise - I thought it "captured the zeitgeist" (yikes) pretty well. Then, I read Franzen's The Corrections - wow. That book was amazing. Well worth picking up and it's a cheap paperback now.

There are also these little books on select albums - one on Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, one on Village Green Preservation, etc. - they look okay, but has anybody read one? I just saw an ad for them.

I'm reading:
-William Vollmann "The Royal Family"

I'm reading this right now as well.

Oh, almost forgot. Anything by Charles Bukowski.