Read Any Good Books Lately?

[Monoclinic 39]

It's about persuasion. It's about convincing. It's about the rush. It's about ... getting everybody alive. It's just usually only one guy is considered the lunatic and everybody else just stares him down hoping he can finish what he has started. Sometimes he proves them wrong, sometimes he don't. Either way, he gets the applause. That's what it's all about. The reason music isn't what it was is because nobody is on the same page. Nobody practices anymore. Legends are no longer born, they only grow old. Unless you believe legends are made.

 

I wonder who that one guy might be around here?

 

My perception of the future music is like a more creative techno (but not techno) almost modern classical but carrying influence from other genres. Little words, very creative. The focus of the music will be on minor subjects, not always heartbreak and poverty and the ghettos and all the other bullshit that continues with no end. The core of the music will be based on 'the emotion' you get from activities and personal experience on all levels. The music itself will be 'about nothing'. That's the only way I can explain it. That is the future.

 

I thought you said architecture was the future?

[Anubis the Jackal 77]

Sounds great, when's the CD out?

My perception of the future music is like a more creative techno ...The core of the music will be based on 'the emotion' you get from activities and personal experience on all levels. The music itself will be 'about nothing'.

[Anubis the Jackal 77]

Tommy Hall, the lyricist and 'spiritual leader' of the band was a couple of years older than the others and a highly educated and charismatic chap . He saw LSD as a means of evolving, learning, creating and teaching. Sadly it all went very tits up thanks to businessmen, rednecks, chemical psychosis and the Texas Police Force.

 

How, by the simple tactic of getting the whole band to take acid every time they played,

How did he get that done?

 

That's all I'm going to say.

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

Reet, Eye Mind is on order and Workington Dynamo is on hold for the moment. Incidentally, 'Negotiating With the Dead' isn't what it sounds like. It's a writer talkng about writing. Bit worthy, bit self-important, thought provoking after a hard day at work but I wouldn't recommend it given the much more engaging reads we've celebrated hereabouts.

[Phantom 2,533]

Sid James: A Biography by Cliff Goodwin

[Twelvetrees 10]

Okay, so I don't say much - but The Echo Maker by Richard Powers. Breathtaking.

[Guest Audrey]

A little light reading for you Banshees. I've chosen the Decent of Man.

 

You can now find the complete works of Darwin here.

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

Ah, the rarified air of intellectual intercourse.

 

Rated Eye Mind about 7/10, great interview stuff and the detail is obsessive to the point of overkill. Yer man could've done with a more brutal editor, mind.

 

I've devoured a couple of oldies but goodies this week, both by Philip K Dick. 'VALIS' which the wikipedia cites as the one book that might qualify as both memoir and sci-fi novel. Not as weird as it sounds when you consider that its main subject is a psychotic episode that may have been the cosmos trying to contact the author, but probably wasn't.

 

Also almost finished Radio Free Albemouth which is about some of the same stuff but puts most of the strangest things that happened to Philip K Dick into the life of a fictional character, reasonable read but VALIS is the one that really rocks.

[TAFKAG 70]

I saw this documentary about executed 1950s American 'commie spies' Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, which led me to an excellent novel based on their sad story, EL Doctorow's The Book of Daniel. Recommended, and here's an interesting article about it.

 

I like to read books as I walk to work; I'm not sure the people walking the other way appreciate it, though.

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

Just started 'In Alien Heat' by Steve Dewey and John Ries, a warts and all account of how the town of Warminster went mad for UFOs in the 60s and after. Entertaining and kinda pertinent in the context of our new thread on UFOs.

[Lard Bazaar 3,799]

Just started 'In Alien Heat' by Steve Dewey and John Ries, a warts and all account of how the town of Warminster went mad for UFOs in the 60s and after. Entertaining and kinda pertinent in the context of our new thread on UFOs.

 

I live near Warminster, about 8 miles away. It's definitely full of alien life form, most of them residing at the local army barracks, and stabbing each other in the town centre on a weekend.

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

Several of your fellow local residents get a write up in 'In Alien Heat' some of them come out of the book well. I've visited the place, I'm not sure your alien life forms are any worse than some of West Cumbria's less presentable specemins.

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

"Carlisle United: The Complete Record" provides the most comprehensive history of the club.Football historian Paul Harrison has carefully researched all aspects of the club's fascinating heritage to write this, the full story of Carlisle United. Alongside profiles of the club's great players and managers, fans can relive the games that secured trophies and take an imaginative tour of the club's grounds. In addition to accounts of League and Cup encounters are reports of friendly and tour matches. This compendium of fascinating information is a must-buy for all devotees of the Cumbrians. Every game, every scorer, every player and every attendance, this is the Complete Record.This is the ultimate guide to Carlisle United - all the statistics from every season, matches to remember, star players and much, much more. It is fully-illustrated with many previously-unseen photographs. It features and reviews in the local press; as well as strong support from Carlisle United FC.

 

 

Link!!!!!!!!

[Monoclinic 39]

"Carlisle United: The Complete Record" provides the most comprehensive history of the club.Football historian Paul Harrison has carefully researched all aspects of the club's fascinating heritage to write this, the full story of Carlisle United. Alongside profiles of the club's great players and managers, fans can relive the games that secured trophies and take an imaginative tour of the club's grounds. In addition to accounts of League and Cup encounters are reports of friendly and tour matches. This compendium of fascinating information is a must-buy for all devotees of the Cumbrians. Every game, every scorer, every player and every attendance, this is the Complete Record.This is the ultimate guide to Carlisle United - all the statistics from every season, matches to remember, star players and much, much more. It is fully-illustrated with many previously-unseen photographs. It features and reviews in the local press; as well as strong support from Carlisle United FC.

 

 

Link!!!!!!!!

 

Do they pay you for this gratuitous publicity stunt? Is it likely to double sales figures, presuming the other Carlisle fan pops into the DL from time to time or would you just share the copy between you and the young'un ?

[Godot 149]

Robert Tressell enthusiasts might like to know that a dramatisation of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is featuring on Radio 4 just now. Lots of lasting themes (sadly) in a book that everyone should read at least once in their lives.

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

"Carlisle United: The Complete Record" provides the most comprehensive history of the club.Football historian Paul Harrison has carefully researched all aspects of the club's fascinating heritage to write this, the full story of Carlisle United. Alongside profiles of the club's great players and managers, fans can relive the games that secured trophies and take an imaginative tour of the club's grounds. In addition to accounts of League and Cup encounters are reports of friendly and tour matches. This compendium of fascinating information is a must-buy for all devotees of the Cumbrians. Every game, every scorer, every player and every attendance, this is the Complete Record.This is the ultimate guide to Carlisle United - all the statistics from every season, matches to remember, star players and much, much more. It is fully-illustrated with many previously-unseen photographs. It features and reviews in the local press; as well as strong support from Carlisle United FC.

 

 

Link!!!!!!!!

 

Do they pay you for this gratuitous publicity stunt? Is it likely to double sales figures, presuming the other Carlisle fan pops into the DL from time to time or would you just share the copy between you and the young'un ?

 

I'm employed by Yorkshire's secret service on a mission to pose as a Cumbrian and discredit our rival county. Or summat.

[DevonDeathTrip 2,358]

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, a visit to a post apocalyptic world, not a terribly nice place, but a very good book. I quite like books about how the world may end.

 

I'm also trying to find a book on untranslatable metaphors, but no one seems to have written one yet. I suppose the subject matter would be challenging, to say the least.

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

DDT you could try this riveting paper.

[DevonDeathTrip 2,358]

DDT you could try this riveting paper.

 

I'll give it a shot MPFC. My interest in the subject was triggered when I managed to confuse a Qatari gentleman who, despite speaking good English. struggled to understand what I meant about the pot calling the kettle black.

 

Anyway, another book I've just finished is "Blindness" by Jose Saramago. Odd, but good (as Nobel Prize winning books tend to be)

[Anubis the Jackal 77]

Man Walks Into A Pub and Three Sheets to the Wind both by Pete Brown. Two fine books that attempt to address one of the great questions of life. Why is beer so bloody great?

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

Synopsis

'Ring magic is different from the magic of the theatre, because the curtain never comes down - because the flood in the ring is real blood, and the broken noses and the broken hearts are real, and sometimes they are broken forever. Boxing is the magic of men in combat, the magic of will, and skill, and pain, and the risking of everything so you can respect yourself for the rest of your life.' The hermetic world of boxing is notoriously difficult for outsiders to understand, though it has provided a source of fascination to numerous writers, including Norman Mailer, A.J. Liebing, Joyce Carol, and Ernest Hemingway. F.X. Toole is a dazzling new writer with a fresh and original voice, who has been a boxing professional for over twenty-five years. "Rope Burns", a collection of short stories and a novella, is written from this unique perspective. In this dazzling collection of stories, F.X. Toole exhibits the skill of a miniaturist: in precise and exquisite detail, he peoples a world rich in unforgettable characters. At the same time, he brings a new understanding to the violence and purity of the sweet science, opening a window into the fighter's sole.

 

Just read 'Rope Burns' aka 'Million Dollar Baby' by F.X. Toole. Best known as the home of the short-story that started the Clint Eastwood movie. Hard-boiled, fast-moving and vivid stuff. 7/10 IMHO, 'Million Dollar Baby' is the stand-out story for me, not the tortured and somewhat overwrought title story which smacks of a movie plot by numbers. Tragic hero - check, gangsters - check, keep your eye on the quiet guy - check.

[Dead O'Gonner 1]

I have just read the second on Conn Iggeldens books based on the life of Genghis Khan. Lords of the Bows is a fantastic read cant wait for the next one in the series . If you like historical based books written in a fiction style ull love it.

[Banshees Scream 110]

I'm currently reading "Moneyball" which is a book written by Michael Lewis and released in 2003. It's about a high rated prospect named Billy Beane, who was looked upon as a untouchable prospect that not only had the skills, but also had "the look" the scouts raved about. The foundation of the story is Billy Beane's talent wasn't measured upon his statistics as much as it was measured upon the high expectations invested in him.

 

Billy Beane's professional career would eventually lead to great failure because he didn't have the "mental strength" to live up to the standards or talent that was set in stone for him. The once prize prospect would later become the GM for the limited Oakland Athletics. It would later turn out that he found this amazing strategy to find ways of winning without having a payroll like the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees. It's a good read so far.

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

Chalked up a trio of corkers when on holiday, probably worth sharing. Bill Drummond's newly published '17', an autobiography that tackles middle age in a sometimes deep and often funny manner, the running joke being that everything he thinks true about himself doesn't seem true to those around him

 

Also read Tom Wolfe's 'The Right Stuff' about the elite US pilots who became the Mercury astronauts, way better than I expected. Though probably more pertinent when it was written in the late seventies since it reclaims traditional American heroic values and - by implication - questions the myth of anti-heroes.

 

Finally I tackled that novel set in West Cumbria - Workington Dynamo, thought I'd share the cover blurb:

 

Full-on fist, football and - occasional - f***ing action in seventies West Cumbria. Young Dougie Grimton dreams of being in with the right crowd, inside his buxom cousin Kerry and proving himself where it really counts....in a fight! Greyhounds are kidnapped, tramps totalled in car accidents, cigarettes are smoked, a herd of pigs get used as an opposing team in football training and all the time, the nearby nuclear power station leaks a grim poison that grabs the local lads, by the balls.

 

Oddly enough, it holds up well, good jokes throughout and a decent balance between stuff that makes sense in West Cumbria and stuff that'd play well elsewhere. A right laugh, and a decent story fit to compare with - oooh - 'Influx' by J C Jones, or summat.

[maryportfuncity 10,642]

Greatly enjoying Never Never by David Gaffney

 

Granted, the setting of much of the novel in West Cumbria was a motivator for me but it's grimly gripping and funny. Follows the life of a debt counsellor with massive debts of his own, but that doesn't begin to do justice to the plot twists, well crafted characters and superb pacing of the action.

 

If you think 'Shameless' is funny.............