read any good books lately...

Just finished "The Shining"... boy... I do get a lot of tension and stuff...

But in the end, I actually fell warm and sme tears came in my eyes... anyone else got this feeling?

I'll re-watch the movie (long time) then I comment here

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Interesting, but mostly it was repeating the same idea until the end.

Kill City Blues .......by Rich Kadrey....a Sandman Slim novel.

Just finished the first book in the Otherland series by Tad Williams, City of Golden Shadow. It was a good enjoyable read, the characters grew on me as the movie went on and the story was pretty solid. I'll work my way through the other three novels in time, but I think I'm going to read something else first...maybe Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, just picked that up tonight.

Right now I am reading...


Another book in the 33½ series providing in-depth analysis of an influential LP. This one focuses on the cultural development of the recording industry back in the mid/late 60s behind how rock history evolved back then, as well as the cultural differences between the US and UK whose respective backgrounds would be reflected in the creative process of the Experience. There's also some stuff about the advances in recording technology that Hendrix didn't start actively utilizing until this album.


Anthology of HST's shorter articles and occasional prose fiction from the 1950s up to the 1980s. It's in particular curious reading his earliest, more conventional work and how he evolved into the more characteristic creative voice that established him as a "brand name" in the 1960s. Also, since half of the news stories here in Europe right now revolve around the Syrian refugee crisis... it's really interesting to read HST's stories about both the Vietnamese and Cuban refugee crises in the 1970s and 1980s since there's many of the same ethical dilemmas coming up then and now.


The second entry in Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö's series about the police detective Martin Beck. I'm already finding this one much more interesting than the first one Roseanna, because it takes so much advantage with the sociopolitical context of its time and place: The plot involved Beck investigating a Swedish journalist disappearing opposite side of the Iron Curtain, resulting in some interesting exploration of not just the Cold War power politics but also many of the repercussions of WW2. The writing quality is also more involved, and the plot faster-moving with less clunky exposition. I can now definitely see why this series is so respected!


Edited by Toaster Mantis - September 22 2015 at 03:55

Toaster, most of those 33 1/3s that I've read are pretty good.  There is one, for Tusk, that was laughably bad. 

Finnforest wrote: Toaster, most of those 33 1/3s that I've read are pretty good.  There is one, for Tusk, that was laughably bad.

My favourite ones were those for Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Jethro Tull's Aqualung. In particular because the PF one focuses less on the personal neuroses of Syd Barrett and Roger Waters, instead on the nuts-and-bolts of the creative process involved in recording the album as well as what the technical personnel contributed.


Edited by Toaster Mantis - September 22 2015 at 03:56

t d wombat wrote:  I'm just in the process of finishing off "the Vengeance of Rome" the final book in Michael Moorcock's series "The Pyat Quartet" . For those of you who only know MC for his sci-fi/fantasy work these volumes are something of a change of direction albeit remaining in the realm of fantasy and Pyat himself is something of a reincarnation of MC's Eternal Champion. In this however, our champion is portrayed as an imbittered old man, self proclaimed friend lover and confidante of the early 20th century's elite. Now however Pyat is living in exile in London shacked up with Jerry Cornelius' mother. Banished from his beloved Russia and essentially reduced to penury he is now as are his faded dreams and schemes reduced to nothing but objects of ridicule. Good stuff. Worth the effort.

dr wu23 wrote: t d wombat wrote:  I'm just in the process of finishing off "the Vengeance of Rome" the final book in Michael Moorcock's series "The Pyat Quartet" . For those of you who only know MC for his sci-fi/fantasy work these volumes are something of a change of direction albeit remaining in the realm of fantasy and Pyat himself is something of a reincarnation of MC's Eternal Champion. In this however, our champion is portrayed as an imbittered embittered old man, self proclaimed friend lover and confidante of the early 20th century's elite. Now however Pyat is living in exile in London shacked up with Jerry Cornelius' mother. Banished from his beloved Russia and essentially reduced to penury he is now as are his faded dreams and schemes reduced to nothing but objects of ridicule. Good stuff. Worth the effort.   Hmmm...I might have to try one of those.....I see Ackroyd liked them and I am fan of Peter Ackroyd's work.

Me too. Huge admirer of almost everything he has written, at least that which I've read. The only thing of his that I really ddn't get into was "Milton in America". That one simply did not work for me.  Otoh, his non fiction is well on the way to being as good as it gets. I've yet to read the second and third volumes of his History of England but Volume One along with his "biographies" of Londan and the Thames are simply wonderful. (Yes, I'm Australian but my mother was born in London and the place still fascinates me.) "Venice" is also excellent while his various works on Dickens finally enabled me to appreciate the man.

As for Moorcock, I read very little fantasy these days but when I was a young bloke Moorcock's "Eternal Champion" series was a major favourite of mine. The whole order v chaos theme utterly fascinated me at the time.