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Double Bass DB forum "what books are you reading" thread
- Thread starter Chris Fitzgerald
- Start date
I'm jealous -- you've still got two-thirds of it ahead of you! I think I'm due for a re-read, actually...
An interesting comparison to "Fifth" is John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany". In mid-career Irving was quite influenced by Davies -- we used to hear them together conversing on Canadian radio for the brief period when they were pals and Davies was still alive. I think Irving has the subtler hand, to be honest...
An interesting comparison to "Fifth" is John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany". In mid-career Irving was quite influenced by Davies -- we used to hear them together conversing on Canadian radio for the brief period when they were pals and Davies was still alive. I think Irving has the subtler hand, to be honest...
This is actually a reread for about the 6th or 7th time. My memory sucks, so i can reread a book every 4 years or so. The "Deptford Trilogy" is one of my touchstone reading experiences. I get something new from it every time.
I like Davies a little better, but I know what you mean. Irving is more "Freudian", which gets a little cloying to me at times.
I thought I was having a Groundhog Day moment...
A couple of reads since Christmas:
A couple of reads since Christmas:
- Freedom -- Jonathan Franzen. I think this guy is one of the best English language fiction writers there is right now. Masterful characterization, interwoven plot development, comedy and drama and pathos all mixed together. A huge talent at the top of his game.
- Life -- Keith Richards. I'm a musical bio junkie so this one was at least a 3-way match for me. It was on many 2010 best-of lists -- nevermind musical biography, best books period -- and I think it warrants it. Kif speaks his mind like you hoped he would, and he's there to remind you that the 70's didn't destroy that many brain cells. Cool guy, a ton of stories; he and Charlie are the real musicians in that band. He delves into some musical matters and it's interesting to see where his ideas are messed up and where there's insight.
...and here I am trying to get back to sleep, and I've gotta read this.
<snore....>
I'm finishing "Return of the King" by Tolkien at the moment. Honestly, as much s it's sacreligious to say, the whole "trilogy" is much easier to read having seen the movie. when I first tried to read it in high school it was way over my head, and I just didn't get it.
I also just finished "Collected Essex County" by Jeff Lemire. It's a graphic novel series set in Essex County (outside of Windsor Ontario, which is across the river from Detroit). It's up for the Canada Reads book award, which CBC radio has been putting together for a while now. I'm not normally one for graphic novels, but the use of art and text to tell the story works very well in this book, because so much of the story and emotion is told by the things that are left unsaid. I reccomend it if you can find it.
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I also just finished "Collected Essex County" by Jeff Lemire. It's a graphic novel series set in Essex County (outside of Windsor Ontario, which is across the river from Detroit). It's up for the Canada Reads book award, which CBC radio has been putting together for a while now. I'm not normally one for graphic novels, but the use of art and text to tell the story works very well in this book, because so much of the story and emotion is told by the things that are left unsaid. I reccomend it if you can find it.
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Finished "A Dance with Dragons" by George R.R. Martin over the summer. First three days it came out I read as often as I could, actually. Almost finished with "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. Next is "The Element" by Sir Ken Robinson, and then "The Empathic Civilization" by Jeremy Rifkin.
Charles Yu, How To Survive In A Science-Fictional Universe. An amazing work and twice so given that is it Mr. Yu's first novel (after a success in short-stories). Funny and tragic, blythe yet acutely self-aware, complex but as straight-forward as a soap-opera.
It's not a "breezy read" but the task it pulls off is as difficult as that of Phillip Jose Farmer's Riders of the Purple Wage or William Gibson's Pattern Recognition. I suspect we will see others attempt to follow in Mr. Yu's path shortly.
It's not a "breezy read" but the task it pulls off is as difficult as that of Phillip Jose Farmer's Riders of the Purple Wage or William Gibson's Pattern Recognition. I suspect we will see others attempt to follow in Mr. Yu's path shortly.
On the recommendation of a student, I just finished "The Elegance of the Hedgehog", which I enjoyed a lot. Next up: "Harmonic experience" by Mathieu, W. A..
"We" by Evegeny Zamyatin and "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov. Also,
everything by the great Anthony Burgess.
everything by the great Anthony Burgess.
Jake deVilliers
Commercial User
- May 24, 2006
- 6,349
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- Owner of The Bass Spa, String Repairman at Long & McQuade Vancouver
I tried to read that book but only got about 3/4 of the way through it. It seemed really derivative to me, a re-casting of Carlos Casteneda's 'The Teachings of Don Juan' in a new setting. Unfortunate really, because there were a lot of good musical ideas and messages n the book.
I tried to read that book but only got about 3/4 of the way through it. It seemed really derivative to me, a re-casting of Carlos Casteneda's 'The Teachings of Don Juan' in a new setting. Unfortunate really, because there were a lot of good musical ideas and messages n the book.
Agree: loved the musical messages involved, but I'm too into actual literature to slog through the way the messages were delivered. It felt like what I imagine hearing Tolstoy sit in with the Flecktones would be like...
I tried to read that book but only got about 3/4 of the way through it. It seemed really derivative to me, a re-casting of Carlos Casteneda's 'The Teachings of Don Juan' in a new setting. Unfortunate really, because there were a lot of good musical ideas and messages n the book.
I'm near the middle right now.
I hope I won't be disappointed like you were!
I also have Kenny Werner's "Effortless mastery" waiting on the bedside...
I tried to read that book but only got about 3/4 of the way through it. It seemed really derivative to me, a re-casting of Carlos Casteneda's 'The Teachings of Don Juan' in a new setting. Unfortunate really, because there were a lot of good musical ideas and messages n the book.
I read it. I dug it. Some of it was silly but some of it was deep. 'You cannot create Music any more than you can create a child." Words to live by; I hear echoes of Gibran (which is high praise in my world).
As for the reference to Castaneda, Jake, based on my very limited exposure to neo-shamanistic 'literature' I would expect much more that VLW has tapped into the neo-shamanistic stew than that he consciously set out to poach from Castaneda. Personally Castaneda was apparently an outside character. As far as we can tell, VLW is a lot more regular -- for example, he seems to only have one wife at a time . . .
And yeah, Chris, none of that stuff rocked my world as hard as William Gibson. Or Kahlil Gibran.
Gotta work.
