What are we reading / listening to

Lavender Room
81

I guess it’s time to read Hillbilly Elegy

I hate that his book sales are probably skyrocketing.

I read it in 2016, when he was still a never Trumper. Good read and at the time I thought that it explained how some people could become Trump supporters.

82

I guess it’s time to read Hillbilly Elegy

I hate that his book sales are probably skyrocketing.

I’m half through. It’s a compelling story.

I suggest you read it as a compelling story and as a diversion from the usual fare as opposed to because of regardless of book sales

83

The Poison Squad. All about how much of our food was unsafe at the turn of the century. Alot of strange additives, dyes, etc. that were added to sub par food. Fascinating.

84

I guess it’s time to read Hillbilly Elegy

I hate that his book sales are probably skyrocketing.

Recently Alice Munro among the most celebrated of Canadian authors and a staple of book clubs everywhere went down a few notches. Months after her death and countless accolades her daughter revealed that she had been abused by Alice’s second husband who was her stepfather. She disclosed it to her mother her by her account didn’t do anything about it.

Now Munro fans are in a bit of a dilemma. It’s okay that life isn’t as straightforward as we would like it to be I think.

85

The Poison Squad

All about how much of our food was unsafe at the turn of the century. Alot of strange additives, dyes, etc. that were added to sub par food. Fascinating.

Which one? 😉

86

i have not warmed to Roberto Bolano. i’m partway through the Savage Detectives, not resonating with me yet. 2666 is on my radar. we’ll see on him. something, literally, may be lost in translation for me.

My favorite Bolano book is 2666 for sure. It’s amazing especially given how it came about after his death. I suggest reading it and Blood Meridian by McCarthy back-to-back to get that real border lands feeling.

87

I’m trying to get into some of the more classic authors by alternating with a suspense/thriller author followed by a Fitzgerald or a Joyce.

I’m an old guy relegated to the trainer and pool mostly. So it helps to pass trainer time along with obsessing about trying to complete every route on Zwift.

Thanks. Peace !!

Ps. There’s a western “genre”. Introduced me to AB Guthrie.

I don’t know how much Joyce you have read, but I always suggest a Hamlet/Portrait of an Artist or an Odyssey/Ulysses (obviously) combo. Since you are going off a great books list, the best is definitely A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu. It’s a big commitment to get through, but I like to think of it as the Bible of interpersonal relations.

88

I guess it’s time to read Hillbilly Elegy

I hate that his book sales are probably skyrocketing.

You might also want to read this book too. I have not yet read it, but I plan to.

Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy, is a book that intends to offer context for some of the claims Vance makes in his book when it moves beyond memoir, and to pass the mic to a wider range of writers, poets, photographers, activists, and artists who make Appalachia a place far too complex to capture and far too dynamic to die.

https://bittersoutherner.com/hillbillies-need-no-elegy-appalachian-reckoning?utm_source=The%20Bitter%20News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=7%2F19-%20(Fri)%20(01J2XZ7R8P8R28ZTXXWDVT7TDP)&_kx=iFRoAjMtYDdNx7pGgxdbZJA-dOq3LVOuxJzwd6Cgxwo.VmuhCx

89

I’m trying to get into some of the more classic authors by alternating with a suspense/thriller author followed by a Fitzgerald or a Joyce.

I’m an old guy relegated to the trainer and pool mostly. So it helps to pass trainer time along with obsessing about trying to complete every route on Zwift.

Thanks. Peace !!

Ps. There’s a western “genre”. Introduced me to AB Guthrie.

I don’t know how much Joyce you have read, but I always suggest a Hamlet/Portrait of an Artist or an Odyssey/Ulysses (obviously) combo. Since you are going off a great books list, the best is definitely A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu. It’s a big commitment to get through, but I like to think of it as the Bible of interpersonal relations.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have read hamlet and portrait. Not the other two but they are on the list

Also read dubliners. Still need to read Ulysses. Finnegans wake and exiles from Joyce. Read Iliad not odyssey

Current list is

Crime and punishment. Dostoevsky
The getaway. Jim Thompson
Bird box. Josh malerman

How about you?

Keep em coming

90

I started reading H.E. when it first came out - really enjoyed it from the start but half way through became too rah rah USA military and I never finished.

91

Under A Rock - Chris Stein’s memoir, adding to some other memoirs and biographies I’ve read from the late 70s/early 80s NYC/Punk/Art/Warhol universe

History of Bones - John Lurie
Widow Basquiat - Jennifer Clement
Just Kids - Patti Smith
Remain In Love - Chris Frantz
Punk Rock Blitzkrieg - Marky Ramone
Please Kill Me - Legs McNeill
.

92

I started reading H.E. when it first came out - really enjoyed it from the start but half way through became too rah rah USA military and I never finished.

Yeah, and that whole “I did it so why can’t you” sentiment became off putting.

93

Just finished demon copperhead. Really great. Most pleasure ive had reading in at least 6 months.

94

great to hear I loved it!!

I’m on Sanctuary by William Faulkner. My 4th Faulkner and a little easier to read than The Sound and the Fury…

95

I read The Lion In The Living Room: How Housecats Tamed Us And Took Over The World

There 's a chapter in the book which confirms something I’d suspected myself, and had added to my own cat’s “memoir” (below) even before I read THIS book

Chapter Seven

Dogs are ridiculous excuses for pets. They’re stupid and needy.

I made an observation not long ago about the variety in sizes of dogs vs cats.

Dogs range in size from tiny little Teacup Yorkies to monsters like Irish Wolfhounds, whereas housecats are all just about the same package with variation in template only in regards to how long their hair gets or how smushed-in their poor little face is.

A pet cat, the size of … let’s say, a Labrador … would look like a mountain lion. Terrifying; and rightly so.

Which is why humans keep us small.

96

The Brothers Kazmorov - Dostoevsky

just ordered James by Percivel Everett. Just as Demon is a reimagining of David Copperfield my understanding is James is a reimagining of Huck Finn

97

well that’s interesting as heck that you chose that book. i may read it as well.

98

I thought I remembered you were reading some Everitt recently. Sounds like another good one from him. I’ll be back with my thoughts after I read

99

as I shared before I’m working off a “greatest books of all time list”. Trying to alternate an older "classic’ with something newer.

James is the first book of 2024 added to the list.

100

I like Everette’s book Dr. No