Read it, a couple of times, it’s not a favourite.
New James Ellroy is a real return to form. Didn’t. Really. Get. Into. The. Cold. Six. Thousand. That. Much.
you’re doing it wrong.
Just finished “The Kindly Ones” by Jonathan Littell. 1000+ pages of Nazi bureaucratic machinations. Epic, brutal, downright amazing.
yes to both
Not if you’re just looking at pics or downloading those 2 min videos!
I hear him quite often on This American Life, and have also listened to “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim”, agree with you 100%.
Spike Milligan fans! I have to thank my grandparents for my introduction to The Goons.
Also:
Anything by Henry Petroski if you’re a history / engineering / design geek.
Stephen Lister’s fiction / non fiction for life in Provence post WWII.
Guns, Germs & Steel - Jared Diamond, traces evolution of various races, why did some do better than others etc.
Currently:
Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely
Bicycle Quarterly (Vols 1-8) - Jan Heine et al
Botany of Desire - Michael Pollan
Next:
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - William Kamkwamba
A Dog in a Hat - Joe Parkin
can i borrow when you’re done? i quite like his blog, quite a bit indeed.
^ favourite contemporay author at the moment
Review of that one when you are done please.
I read his first book “Less Than Zero” on a plane on the way to Japan and felt uncomfortable for 10 hours.
I don’t know whether this means it was really good, or really fucking disturbing.
i’ll get sloppy thirds on it, have been meaning to buy from the interwebs for quite a while.
lately and springing immediately to mind…
the boat - nam le (worth all the praise it got)
burn collector -al burian (reading this at the moment)
The New Kings of Nonfiction - edited by ira glass (blakey - if you like T.A.L you’ll love this)
A perfect day for bananafish - salinger
Punk is a four letter word - ben weasel (as sarcastic in writing as he is in lyrics)
the cometbus compendium (does that count as a book - its 2x as thick as some of other stuff on my list)
down and out in paris and london - orwell (always a classic)
the anti-matter anthology - norm brannon (more a series of conversations than interviews with some bands that mean a lot to me)
a day in the life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (shortsie this will scare you even more)
In search of Captain Zero/Cosmic Banditos - Allan Weisbecker (60s surfer/author/drug smuggler stories)
Round Ireland with a Fridge - Tony Hawks (for a good laugh)
Snowblind/smokescreen - robert sabbag (the stories of some of the first serious coke and weed importers into the US)
+100 on david sedaris, sarah vowell from T.A.L writes some good stuff too
our band could be your life and we owe you nothing (a collection of punk planet interviews) are my two favourite music related books. some amazing writing and insight in both.
i came back from OS to several large boxes of books i hadnt seen for years… im having fun going through them again. Roddy Doyles ‘the barrytown trilogy’ springs to mind.
<3 Ira Glass.
I’ll pillage your library soon.
I purged many books from BNE -> MEL / house move, but have recently been building up a ‘to read’ list, am also taking notes from this thread.
Just about anything written by Irvine Welsh:
Trainspotting
Porno
Glue
Filth - (even bleaker than Slaughterhouse 5)
The Acid House
The History of the Kelly Gang - Peter Carey
Catch 22 - Peter Heller
Consolations of Philosphy & The Art of Travel- Alan de Botton
We might as well win - Johan Bryneel
The Great War for Civilisation: the conquest of the middle east - Robert Fisk
My war gone by, I miss it so - Anthony Lloyd
Currently reading:
The Ascent of Money - Niall Ferguson
Past faves:
Anything by Andre Norton,
Smiley’s People - John le Carre
Smith’s Dream - CK Stead (made into the NZ movie ‘Sleeping Dogs’)
The Tolkien trilogy & the Thomas Covenant books by Stephen Donaldson
SW
burn collector is possibly my favourite book. definitely in the holy trinity. the other two are:
eucalyptus - murray bail
and
my life and hard times - james thurber.
but i also like Solzhenitsyn quite a bit. cancer ward is also totally bleak and awesome.
not wanting to be incendiary, but has anyone read mein kampf?
My girls fav book is ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’, I’ve got a copy i’ve been meaning to read for ages.
Some of my fav’s -
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Currahee - Donald R. Burgett
Junky - William S. Burroughs
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Collected Poems 1909-1962 - T.S. Eliot
Factory Records - The Complete Graphic Album - Matthew Robertson
Beneath The Roses - Gregory Crewdson
You know they’re makding (or have made) The Road into a movie?
Also, Beneath the Roses is fantastic.
I also enjoy this book from time to time.
lolz. have you read dance of days? it’s very good.
also, all ages: reflections on straight edge
Yeah, I’m looking foward to seeing what they’ve done with the movie adaptation, it’s a pretty intense read, I hope they havn’t screwed it up!
I’ll keep an eye out for the Fugazi book, looks interesting, Friedman’s work is amazing.
I picked up a copy of the big pink covered Clash picture book recently for $15, score!!
No, I’d like to read Dance Of Days. One day i’ll actually go source a copy and read it.