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Double Bass DB forum "what books are you reading" thread

#41
I'm a big fan of White Heat as well.

A few from my recent reading:

Children of Men - PD James. A speculative pieces of fiction about a world in the not too distant future where no child has been born for a quarter century. Excellent.

The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow - A. J. MacKinnon. A crazy Scotsman sails a Mirror Dinghy from Wales to Eastern Europe. True story.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon. A brilliant story told from the point of view of an autistic teenager trying to solve a mystery.
 
#42
Hey, look: A thread with bass players talking about something other than strings, high-pass filters, and pre-amps!

Two most impressive novels I've read in the past year:

"America, America" by Ethan Canin.

Great narrative which weaves together multiple timeline stories each re-telling different aspects of the same historical events. It manages to be quite a few types of tales: coming of age story, moral fable, philosophical examination of modern political and societal ethics, combined with a high page-turning quotion.

And

"Snow" by Orhan Pamuk.

A beautiful book. An exiled poet returns to his native Turkey under the pretense of reporting on the up-coming elections for a German newspaper. His real reason for returning is to seek out an old love who, he has heard, has left her husband. Trapped in Kars during a snowstorm which cuts the city's ties with the outside world, he becomes embroiled in the East vs. West political and cultural struggle that is modern Turkey. Against this backdrop he reevaluates his poetry, his love, his faith, his humanity.

Most entertaining music autobiography:

"Backstage Passes and Back-stabbing Bastards" by Al Kooper

Favorite short story collection:

"The Dead Fish Museum" by Charles D'Ambrosio

Favorite "Book I should have read a long time ago":

"Tender is the Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Favorite SF/Fantasy work:

"Nation" by Terry Pratchett

Favorite Re-read:

"The Harmonious Circle: The Lives and Work of G. I. Gurdjieff, P.D. Ouspensky, and Their Followers" by James Webb

And so it goes...
 
#45
MLysh said:
Most entertaining music autobiography:

"Backstage Passes and Back-stabbing Bastards" by Al Kooper
Click to expand...

I thought that was a hoot, too. Another really enjoyable read -- you might not think it at first glance -- is Under a Hoodoo Moon: The Life of Dr. John the Night Tripper. Mack has some awesome stories to tell! He knew everyone, he was everywhere. He was present in the recording studio when Little Richard cut "Tutti Frutti", fer chrissakes...
 
#47
Damon Rondeau said:
I thought that was a hoot, too. Another really enjoyable read -- you might not think it at first glance -- is Under a Hoodoo Moon: The Life of Dr. John the Night Tripper. Mack has some awesome stories to tell! He knew everyone, he was everywhere. He was present in the recording studio when Little Richard cut "Tutti Frutti", fer chrissakes...
Click to expand...

Both of these guys are true characters... (based on some personal experiences)Thanks Damon, these books are going on my list.

I read a book this year called Called "Lone Survivor" by Marcus Latrell that was pretty amazing. I read it because my oldest son is working towards that line of work: Navy SEALS.

Although there is a lot of political stuff that kind of clouds the story, what these guys do and endure is amazing!
 
#48
The Secret Life of Dreaming, -----Robert Moss

The Worst Hard Time, -----Timothy Egan

Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants In Wild (and Not So Wild) Places ----"Wildman" Steve Brill with Evelyn Dean

The Music Lesson -----Victor Wooten

heck I've got a pile of books waiting to be read

I want to read "Harpo Speaks" ---Harpo Marx haven't got a copy yet
 
#49
Damon Rondeau said:
I thought that was a hoot, too. Another really enjoyable read -- you might not think it at first glance -- is Under a Hoodoo Moon: The Life of Dr. John the Night Tripper. Mack has some awesome stories to tell! He knew everyone, he was everywhere. He was present in the recording studio when Little Richard cut "Tutti Frutti", fer chrissakes...
Click to expand...

Hadn't heard of the Dr. John book...off to Amazon I go.

Anyone interested in New Orleans R&B should pick up the 4-disc cd set called "The Cosimo Mattasa Story."

http://www.amazon.com/Cosimo-Matass...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1239279855&sr=1-1

Incidentally, both Koop's and Mac's latest cds, "Black Coffee" and "The City That Care Forgot" are spectacular (as Terri Hatcher once said).
 
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#51
frichter said:
Have any of ya read a good monk bio? When doin a search on amazon or elsewhere, there seems to be multiple bios, but I don't know which one would be considered the "definitive".
Click to expand...

There's the Leslie Gourse piece from 1997, Straight, No Chaser: The Life and Genius of Thelonious Monk. Whether it's definitive or not I couldn't tell ya. It's a legit piece of work, though, well-documented with sources, discography, bibliography and (for me, especially) an index. That's a lot more than you can say about a lot of "entertainment world" bios, many of which belong in some kind of "fan-boy" category...

It wasn't a waste of time reading it.
 
#52
... and then there's the Miles auto-bio he did with Quincy Troupe not long before he passed on. Full of lies and tall tales and attitude, but it sure sounds like Miles' voice. It would be fun to read that one first, then go to something like So What by John Szwed. The first one distinctly subjective and passionate, the second a more removed, dispassionate look.
 
#56
Damon Rondeau said:
There's the Leslie Gourse piece from 1997, Straight, No Chaser: The Life and Genius of Thelonious Monk. Whether it's definitive or not I couldn't tell ya. It's a legit piece of work, though, well-documented with sources, discography, bibliography and (for me, especially) an index. That's a lot more than you can say about a lot of "entertainment world" bios, many of which belong in some kind of "fan-boy" category...

It wasn't a waste of time reading it.
Click to expand...

Slightly OT to the thread but...

The movie of the same title is worth watching too. Lot's of footage of Monk performing and just living life. Interviews with is son and wife. Gives you a pretty good picture of what his life was like (maybe pretty tough) and only adds to my apreciation for him.
 
#57
Mostly non-fiction.
The Brain That Changes Itself - Norman Doidge, MD; Stories of the frontiers of brain science, especially brain plasticity.
The Mind and the Brain - Jeffrey Schwartz, MD
Emotional Intelligence - Daniel Goleman, PhD
Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
This is Your Brain on Music - Daniel Levitin, PhD
Musicophilia - Oliver Sacks, MD

The Dancing Wu Li Masters - Gary Zukav; An intro to quantum physics for laymen

God In Search of Man - Abraham Joshua Heschel

The Content of Our Character - Shelby Steele
Flyboys - James Bradley

I constantly refer to books and essays on the Alexander Technique, and I'm in anatomy texts at least once a week.

Fiction - I've recently become smitten with the writing of Alexander McCall Smith. The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, and 44 Scotland Street.

Mostly, I read periodicals and essays. Arts and Letters Daily http://www.aldaily.com/ is a treasure trove, with something for everybody.
 

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