BOOK THREAD

Read about 70 pages of A Meaningful Life by L.J. Davis. I bought it this weekend at a book stall, had never heard of the guy, but the write-up on the back peaked my interest. The writing has made me laugh a couple of times already so it was 4 euros well spent.

I'm also trying to read this book about IBM facilitating the Nazi regime by Edwin Black, which sounds pretty conspiratory but has proven to be an interesting read thusfar. Apparently a punch card system developed by the company made it possible to organize the deportation and destruction of the jews very effectively for the Nazi's. The argument is grist on the mill for the Luddite in me - is that proper English? Technological progress + a corporate desire for profit + unethical leaders = death.

ratcharge Dhalgren is one of my favorite books. It's something I read years ago that I still think about from time to time.

I always understood it was a metaphor for "white flight", when the bourgeoisie abandoned American cities in late 70s. Those urban spaces turned into waste lands, but they also proved to be fertile ground for new art, music, and self expression.

Lincoln Alright thanks! Haven’t received/ read it yet but will keep that theory in mind when I do. (Would be nice for the bourgeoisie to abandon cities again soon.)

Just started the 33⅓ Oceania book on The Clean's Boodle Boodle Boodle. It's enjoyable so far.

I said it many times before in online treads and IRL but can say it enough:
Read "Beneath the underdog" Charles Mingus' autobiography. It's insane.

the ann moses tigerbeat memoir is a must read for '60s rock/pop fans

Emil M. Antonowsky Loved that. I remember it being mostly about fighting and women and very sparsely about jazz.

Here's an article about a new book coming out about 1980's Times Square Sex shows: https://www.huckmag.com/article/peep-man-times-square-deuce-42-sex-shows

ratcharge I've not finished it as it's daunting as hell. A really fascinating read, though. The fact that it's essentially his expression of how he experiences the world, identity, reality, sexuality, sensuality etc. makes it a pretty potent and disorienting experience.

v Head On / Repossessed is one of my fave books.

Read Michelle Leon's 'I Live Inside: Memoirs of a Babe in Toyland' last week. Recommended. Can read it in a night/few hours. Interesting behind the scenes stuff. She's a good writer.

Mostly read non-fiction and music related stuff these days. It's a golden age of music books. Every scene, city, label seems to be covered by a book these days.

Lammie
I read that IBM book. It's extremely good.
Also read the book he wrote on eugenics in the US. Wasn't as good as the IBM one, and was pretty repetitive but still worth a read. An ugly history brought to light.

Yo @Randall, replying to your job post here to keep things neat and tidy.

If that's where you're at right now, then this one by Rich from Sauna Youth is a great read. It's tales of his experiences supporting people with learning disabilities to be in bands and everything that entails (managing, driving, rehearsing, booking/running /organising gigs and tours etc etc). He puts that together to explore D.I.Y in general and how the playing field can be levelled. Very informative and funny too.

Dunno what availability is like over there so can always lend my copy (posting paper, or things posing as paper, is still cheap from EU to USA).

https://roughtradebooks.com/products/d-i-y-as-privilege-a-manifesto-richard-phoenix

https://richardphoenix.com/DIY-as-Privilege

Real Hank just started the new Mike Sniper biography "Blank Dogs and Irishmen" (he explains the title in the book--his dad is irish)

Legit funny.

Roberto Bolaño - 2666. I'd put it off for a long time because it seemed kinda daunting: 900 pages, cover art of a 19th century Symbolist painting with themes of classical Greek myth, and blurbs that say stuff like "a supreme capstone to his own vaulting ambition" and "a work of devastating power and complexity." I figured it would be one of those intellectually punishing-but-ultimately-rewarding novels that you could spend a whole winter season grinding through. But the style is actually fun and breezy and free, so I'm flying through it. (It is indeed very good btw)

Seeing as the dub heads have revealed themselves.. loadsa great tips in 100 days of dub, loadsa stuff I didn’t know. Well worth grabbing if you can find a copy.

https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/product/by-martin-skyjuice-blomqvist

BloodstainsAcrossMantovani Everything Bolaño did is mandatory reading imo, the short stories, the novels, the novellas, even his journalistic pieces about litterature are amazing and unmistakably his own. Ironically (since he always considered himself a poet first and foremost), I could’t fully get into his poetry yet, but I try from time to time and I’m sure it will happen as years pass. I’m almost jealous when I hear of readers opening their first book of his and having this crazy world of fiction open up to them. In one word : enjoy!

ratcharge Hell yeah man. Very good to know. Outside of Neruda and Borges*--who is one of my absolute fuckin' favorites ever--I waited way too long to explore South American lit. Finally read 100 Years of Solitude a couple years ago, and my brain felt ike a tornado of visions and tears at the end of it.

*"Borges-like" was actually the vague (and lazy, and inaccurate) impression I had in my mind of 2666
before I started reading it. 900 pages of "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius"-type vibes seemed intimidating lol

Finished Harry Crews' Florida Frenzy the other day. I read a couple of his novels each year, but was really glad to pick up this essay collection not too long ago. Great stuff.

Working right now on Michael McDowell's Toplin, which is his stab at psychological horror instead of the southern gothic style of most of his novels. Digging it so far, a pretty claustrophobic read with more grotesque touches.