#41

Currently reading The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. A fascinating and engrossing story so far, I’m about three quarters through it.

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#42

A few years back we moved into a house that needed a lot of work done to it and I found myself getting rather stressed out and worked up, and in need of a bit of escapism. Sadly, modern television seems to delight in increasing my stress hormones, while still leaving me with enough brain capacity to surf the internet on my phone…

So since then reading has fulfilled the role that the telly used to, I love the large sci-fi tomes that one can get lost in, Peter F Hamilton, all 3000 pages of Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle, etc. The downside is that I rarely read challenging things anymore.

Anyway, I’ve just started…

I’m not generally a fan of crime fiction, but this series is set in my home town of Bath, which is a pretty small place. So I know all the locations and routes and alleyways that the stories take place in.

#43

it looks pretty challenging to me…

1 Like
#44

Just finished and would definitely recommend Argonauts, a book about identity and limitations, language and desire. Nelson’s previous, Bluets is stunning and perhaps worth reading before this one.

"To align oneself with the real while intimating that others are at play, approximate, or in imitation can feel good. But any fixed claim on realness, especially when it is tied to an identity, also has a finger in psychosis. If a man who thinks he is a king is mad, then a king who thinks he is a king is no less so. "

also this from Andrea Branzi and Kenya Hara

“We delude ourselves by equating evolution with progress towards sophistication; it is not only wisdom that evolves but also folly, cruelty, and deceit… a hundred verbs a hundred vital forces.”

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#45

My partner just finished The Argonauts and I’m about to pick it up! What is it about Bluets that you suggest reading it before? I have read Jane: a Murder, so I am familiar with her style.

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#46

THIS. Bluets is one of the best books I’ve read in my adult life. Her ability to capture singular yet universal emotion is peerless. I read it alongside Mark Doty’s Still Life with Oysters and Lemon – really moving combo.

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#47

only that if you don’t like Argonauts you might decide not to read Bluets and that would be a shame because it’s really really wonderful.

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#48

Catching up on some long due readings

A very interesting piece of journalism / litterature, especially being a non-US citizen, it forces me to consider a lot of things I wouldn’t otherwise necessarily think about.

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#49

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#50

Not my favorite Ballard by a long shot, but still has some nice moments.
https://smile.amazon.com/Millennium-People-J-G-Ballard/dp/0871404052/ref=smi_www_rco2_go_smi_g2609328962?_encoding=UTF8&Version=1&entries=0&ie=UTF8

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#51

Wrapped up David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks a while back. Now reading all of William Gibson’s Bridge Trilogy (or re-reading in the case of Idoru). Whilst the curious times we’re in often make people reference Gibson - previously, the Blue Ant books, and more recently, the Jackpot of The Peripheral - I maintain that if you want the actual corollary for the current situation, it’s The Bridge: its hollowed-out middle class, gig economies, shanty towns and post-truth media all feel more relevant than ever.

Also, they are pulpy fun.

On the coffee table, I’ve just acquired the stunning Bitmap Brothers Universe and the repress of Daphne Oram’s An Individual Note.

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#52

You only need to mention Bitmap Brothers and now I’ve got the theme music to Gods in my head…

If only I had a coffee table.

#53

I finished Han Kang’s Human Acts a few weeks ago. Quite intense, but very topical with what’s going on in Korea at the moment.
http://portobellobooks.com/human-acts

#54

I can recommend picking up the book regardless. It’s stunningly pretty, and is REALLY long - like, it’s a big wodge of journalism on Duncan Harris’ part. The CRT-emulation in the image plates is the icing on the cake.

#55
#56

all about Fluxus Music, the exhibition book “Sense Sound Sound Sense”, Rome - Auditorium Parco della Musica

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#57

finally opened this one last week

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#58

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I just finished this tonight (in its recent new french traduction). I seem to understand it’s a classic in the anglo-saxon world, so some of you have probably read it long time ago; well that story certainly is epic and achingly cute at the same time.
It lacks a bit on the gender-role side but is nonetheless a fine mythology.

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#59

Can I ask: is this a recent edition of the book? The cover illustration reminds me of illustrator Brecht Evens work a lot. I’m wondering if it is him…

#60

This Fluxus book looks great - Recommended?

One of my favourite, less well-known, books is A House Full of Music - a huge coffee table book about the 20th century crossover between art and music - lots about Darmstadt etc

It’s HUGE and expensive, but really worth it, beautiful pictures, lots of interesting text

http://www.hatjecantz.de/a-house-full-of-music-3088-1.html

Right at the other end, Thom Holmes Experimental Music is a fantastic introduction and reference…
http://thomholmes.com/Noise_and_Notations/Electronic_%26_Experimental_Music_(the_book)/Electronic_%26_Experimental_Music_(the_book).html

1 Like