#437

Halfway through Memorial Device which is really good. Though its a bit hard to tell when a previous narrator picks up again. I wish he had put the narrator name at the top of the chapter like in As I Lay Dying.

Also half way through How Music Works t- the David Burne thing. Still waiting for it to get interesting - its simple written for children style is really irritating me.

This is typical of me these days read 4 or 5 books at once until one kind of takes over.

Non music related…Recently read Orwell’s Coming Up For Airwhich is one of those great time capsule books (on 1939) and the dangers of nostalgia and how a nation may (fail to ) comprehend the onset of war. A bit flawed- as the novel format sometimes creaks to carry his lecture -but an amazing time capsule of a book.

Also , I feel like I want to defend Bukowski from his repulsiveness- as I feel his honesty redeems him. But perhaps I don’t know enough to just jump into that deep end…Oh just see Thom as said it too.

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#438

It’s mostly his general view on women that I find repulsive…

But, yes, there’s a certain kind of honesty in there as well, that really makes this book rewarding, he can take something fairly complex and just see through it. Some kind of Bukowski zen!

#439

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I’m going to finish this during the holidays. Halfway through, and there’s a lot of interesting ideas and concepts I would like to dive into with my own music. Going to try to take some notes.

Then I look forward to reading the latest Twin Peaks book by Mark Frost (the final dossier)!

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#440

just finished:

Saul Stories by Elizabeth Ellen
The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan
They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib
Itzá by Rios de la Luz
(2017 was an amazing year and these were probably my favorites, though possible recency bias at work)

currently reading:
Red Shift by Alan Garner

trying to hit my goodreads goal but it was made before I knew we were having a baby and selling/buying a new house (both of which happened in last 2 months) so I don’t feel too bad.

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#441

Finishing up Jose Saramago’s “The Double” and picked up “Coltrane on Coltrane” collected interviews, and a couple little Bolaño books I hadn’t seen before: “A Little Lumpen” and “By Night In Chile”…I still have “Indigenous People’s History of the United States” and “Wabi Sabi: Further Thoughts” in the recent stack too. Good thing I have a little break to dig in a bit for the next two weeks :slight_smile:

#442

I just finished The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and then started in on its sequel. Surprised it hasn’t come up in here yet! Really amazing work of fantasy, incredibly poetic but not overly wrought, a twisting and turning story that’s intimate and magical. Highly recommend!

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#443

Triggered by a discussion about the first known interstellar object currently passing thru our solar system, I started reading Arthur C. Clarke’s “Rendezvous with Rama” (1973)

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#444

Wow I just picked up a copy of this, triggered by a similar discussion, thoroughly enjoying it

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#445

Curious as to what you thought of this?

(having read the trilogy)

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#446

I liked it OK. I think I came to it with the unfortunate circumstance of having had it recommended to me a lot. It felt like denuded Lovecraft, like a rationalist Lovecraft — all the murky weirdness, but done to clinical ends. On the surface that sort of thing should appeal to me, as should a book in which highly educated people spend a lot of time observing their circumstances and in which the act of writing (the script in the plants, the journals the travelers keep) plays such an important role. But for some reason it didn’t really click with me.

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#447

I’ve been a fan of Vandermeer’s work for a really long time, and I don’t think I would have liked Annihilation as much if I had taken the general hype so seriously. Of the Southern Reach Trilogy, the one that appealed the most to me personally was Authority… because something about hyper-paranoid government stooge investigating environmental chaos, and the writing style really sold it.

#448

Oooh, a “hyper-paranoid government stooge” is something I would be intrigued by. Maybe I will move on to the second book in the Southern Reach trilogy. I just finished After the Flare by Desi Bryce Olukotun (the second in his Nigerians in Space series — I haven’t actually read the first one yet), and I’m just starting Iain M. Banks’ The Hydrogen Sonata (for a book club that’ll take place in late January on the Disquiet Junto Slack, if anyone is interested).

#449

I read Annihilation and was so disturbed by it that I’ve been putting off reading Authority and Acceptance.

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#450

this is amazing:

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#451

Love this one! I found it at an art book fair in Chicago and it blew my mind. Thought it was pretty obscure since I found it at random but I’m not too surprised to see it here

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#452

Anyone have any good recs for books on or about John Cage? I read the book on Fluxus that’s been mentioned twice here and I now find myself rather wanting to learn more about this man and his beautiful nonsensical mind.

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#453

Have you checked out his own writing? I have ‘Silence’ on my shelf and this reminded me to finish it. :slight_smile:

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#454

Hot darn! Yea I need to check that out too, sounds like it could be super inspiring. I think I’d also like to check out a biography or like a history of the movement or something though. I just found this on amazon, wondering if it’s gonna be good.

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#455

If I remember right The Roaring Silence is heavier on biographical detail than it is on conceptual or musical analysis.
I second @Jonny Cage’s own writings Silence is a good place to start.
Ha I didn’t write Jonny Cage on purpose, I swear.

A couple other Cage books to check out
MUSICAGE - Joan Retallack - these are in depth interviews at the very end of Cage’s life
For the Birds - Daniel Charles - interviews from late 60s to 70s
The Music of John Cage - James Pritchett - gives a broad view of Cage’s musical output, breaks his work into distinct phases and analyzes key pieces in each period of his career

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#456

Wow yes thank you. Yea I’m always hesitant about going into biographies when I’m interested in someone’s work and not necessarily their life story. Those other options seem much better. It sounds like the best person to hear about Jonny Cage from is Jonny himself.