New now reading

in reality, all of this has been a total load of old bollocks
Jimbo
Dribbling idiot airhead
Posts: 19645
Joined: 26 Dec 2009, 21:22

Re: New now reading

Postby Jimbo » 20 Jan 2021, 20:25

Image

Sorry for the blow up. But so far this is a pretty good sea yarn. Kind of a who dun it British navy style. The author knows his stuff - or just enough to keep me interested.
Question authority.

User avatar
Minnie the Minx
funky thigh collector
Posts: 33546
Joined: 29 Dec 2006, 16:00
Location: In the naughty North and in the sexy South

Re: New now reading

Postby Minnie the Minx » 23 Jan 2021, 23:52

I've reached the halfway point through kath's excellent gift of Faulkner's assorted short stories (a joy) to start reading some of the Cormac McCarthy pile I got for Xmas/birthday. Am halfway through "Blood Meridian" a book so great that my hands are almost shaking reading it.
You come at the Queen, you best not miss.

Dr Markus wrote:
Someone in your line of work usually as their own man cave aka the shed we're they can potter around fixing stuff or something don't they?


Flower wrote:I just did a google search.

User avatar
Minnie the Minx
funky thigh collector
Posts: 33546
Joined: 29 Dec 2006, 16:00
Location: In the naughty North and in the sexy South

Re: New now reading

Postby Minnie the Minx » 02 Feb 2021, 18:03

I'm reading Cormac McCarthy's "The Crossing" which was started minutes after finishing "Blood Meridian."

I tend to come late to these apparently well known books, and it's possible that I heard about them years ago but just didn't have any interest in reading them. There was certainly a point in my life where I would have picked up those books, seen the Westerny covers and had no interest. I don't remember them at all, anyway.

Blood Meridian was an amazing ride (pardon the pun.) If you haven't read it yet, stop reading this post now and go and read it. There was one passage which after reading, I put the book down and had to sit up in bed and just take a fucking minute. It was one of the most magical things I had ever read - I know now from a bit of reading around the book that this passage is "legendary" or whatever you want to call it. I don't know if he planned it that way, put a bit of extra fairy dust in it but...ach. Amazing.

I didn't feel any resolution or happy ending was necessary or likely. Which is a good job. I think I would have probably been happier with a greater understanding of the significance of the end of the book, but I don't think anyone can attach any meaning or interpretation to that final chapter. I mean, you just can't.

I have since read around all the unsuccessful attempts at getting this on the screen. I am sort of glad. But yes, what a book. What a fucking book. An absolute belter.
You come at the Queen, you best not miss.

Dr Markus wrote:
Someone in your line of work usually as their own man cave aka the shed we're they can potter around fixing stuff or something don't they?


Flower wrote:I just did a google search.

User avatar
Minnie the Minx
funky thigh collector
Posts: 33546
Joined: 29 Dec 2006, 16:00
Location: In the naughty North and in the sexy South

Re: New now reading

Postby Minnie the Minx » 02 Feb 2021, 18:08

I’d add that now understanding the landscapes of New Mexico, California and Texas makes the reading of these books an even greater pleasure.
You come at the Queen, you best not miss.

Dr Markus wrote:
Someone in your line of work usually as their own man cave aka the shed we're they can potter around fixing stuff or something don't they?


Flower wrote:I just did a google search.

User avatar
Minnie the Minx
funky thigh collector
Posts: 33546
Joined: 29 Dec 2006, 16:00
Location: In the naughty North and in the sexy South

Re: New now reading

Postby Minnie the Minx » 15 Feb 2021, 16:08

I finished the Border Trilogy yesterday with finishing "Cities of the Plain," and am really happy that I bumped into McCarthy by accident. What an extraordinary ride those books are, and a genuine universe left imprinted on the brain.
You come at the Queen, you best not miss.

Dr Markus wrote:
Someone in your line of work usually as their own man cave aka the shed we're they can potter around fixing stuff or something don't they?


Flower wrote:I just did a google search.

User avatar
Six String
Posts: 23075
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 20:22

Re: New now reading

Postby Six String » 15 Feb 2021, 17:44

Yes, I think I’ve already sung my praise for the trilogy but have to say it again. I get your need for stopping in your tracks while reading. It happened to me many times with those books. They certainly aren’t feel good books but they are so honest imo of documenting the life of that part of the world during that time. I thought of them frequently on our road trip in 2019, especially around Big Bend. There’s a PBS show on Big Bend currently playing here that is fascinating.
Everything is broken
B. Dylan

User avatar
Minnie the Minx
funky thigh collector
Posts: 33546
Joined: 29 Dec 2006, 16:00
Location: In the naughty North and in the sexy South

Re: New now reading

Postby Minnie the Minx » 15 Feb 2021, 18:08

We’ve watched that documentary! It’s wonderful. I didn’t know bears could climb that high!
You come at the Queen, you best not miss.

Dr Markus wrote:
Someone in your line of work usually as their own man cave aka the shed we're they can potter around fixing stuff or something don't they?


Flower wrote:I just did a google search.

User avatar
John_K
driven by lists
Posts: 13315
Joined: 02 Nov 2004, 14:01
Location: The Black Hole of BCB...

Re: New now reading

Postby John_K » 15 Feb 2021, 21:00

Tom Waits For No One wrote:Having a re-read of this

Image

The joy of record shop browsing/idling/buying...a distant memory :(


On my bedside locker too, next week marks one year since I’ve been to a record shop, when I got to spend some dollars in The Record Stop on John Street in Charleston South Carolina.

Little did we know what was ahead, I would have doubled my spend...

Jimbo
Dribbling idiot airhead
Posts: 19645
Joined: 26 Dec 2009, 21:22

Re: New now reading

Postby Jimbo » 16 Feb 2021, 01:11

Image

Though written in 1925 it is modernistic enough to be a pretty zippy ride.
Question authority.

User avatar
Jock
Posts: 9476
Joined: 31 Dec 2005, 10:59
Location: Guid aul' Killie

Re: New now reading

Postby Jock » 17 Feb 2021, 18:44

Image
Always Cheated Never Defeated

User avatar
Jock
Posts: 9476
Joined: 31 Dec 2005, 10:59
Location: Guid aul' Killie

Re: New now reading

Postby Jock » 17 Feb 2021, 18:47

Tom Waits For No One wrote:Having a re-read of this

Image

The joy of record shop browsing/idling/buying...a distant memory :(

Any good??
Always Cheated Never Defeated

User avatar
Minnie the Minx
funky thigh collector
Posts: 33546
Joined: 29 Dec 2006, 16:00
Location: In the naughty North and in the sexy South

Re: New now reading

Postby Minnie the Minx » 28 Feb 2021, 20:41

I finished ‘White Line Fever’ - the updated version since Lemmy’s death. I had no idea that he died just 17 days after his diagnosis. Probably the way he wanted it too! And not long after his last gig.

Now onto ‘Georgia O Keeffe and Her Houses’ which is about - well, exactly that!
You come at the Queen, you best not miss.

Dr Markus wrote:
Someone in your line of work usually as their own man cave aka the shed we're they can potter around fixing stuff or something don't they?


Flower wrote:I just did a google search.

User avatar
Six String
Posts: 23075
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 20:22

Re: New now reading

Postby Six String » 13 Mar 2021, 22:48

I went inside my local library for the frist time in a year to pick up a book on hold for me. Mask and distancing required of course and hardly anybody in there at the time. I just picked up my copy of Jimmy Webb’s Memoir The Cake And The Rain and left. Should be a good read.
Everything is broken
B. Dylan

Jimbo
Dribbling idiot airhead
Posts: 19645
Joined: 26 Dec 2009, 21:22

Re: New now reading

Postby Jimbo » 14 Mar 2021, 02:20

Only halfway through American Tragedy and the main character is already in such deep and depressing straits I am not sure if I care to see how he fares. It doesn't look good. I am reminded, however, of how well and how deeply an author can delve into a person's thoughts, putting me dab in the middle of a character's brain.

That's why I am happy to have found this in my collection and man it is good to be reminded of how great the Aubry - Maturin books are.

Image
Question authority.

User avatar
Minnie the Minx
funky thigh collector
Posts: 33546
Joined: 29 Dec 2006, 16:00
Location: In the naughty North and in the sexy South

Re: New now reading

Postby Minnie the Minx » 23 Mar 2021, 14:11

Still working my way through the Faulkner compilation kath sent me for Xmas, and still enjoying every word.
Also reading McCarthy's " The Orchard Keeper" in my quest to see how many bodies one person can find in an arroyo on any given day.
AND someone has got me a subscription to the Paris Review- no idea who, but the writing in there is sensational. The poetry in particular is dazzling. One Canadian woman who I am ashamed to say I have forgotten the name of already has written some great stuff about the diaspora from the Baltics which got me right in the feels.
You come at the Queen, you best not miss.

Dr Markus wrote:
Someone in your line of work usually as their own man cave aka the shed we're they can potter around fixing stuff or something don't they?


Flower wrote:I just did a google search.

User avatar
Darkness_Fish
Posts: 7793
Joined: 27 Jul 2015, 09:58

Re: New now reading

Postby Darkness_Fish » 23 Mar 2021, 16:00

Image

A proper doorstop of a novel, and given how much my reading has slowed down since lockdown, I suspect it'll take me a few weeks to get through. Such a detailed, convincing read so far though, even if I have a slight suspicion that it's a kind of highbrow misery-lit version of Friends.
Like fast-moving clouds casting shadows against a hillside, the melody-loop shuddered with a sense of the sublime, the awful unknowable majesty of the world.

User avatar
Minnie the Minx
funky thigh collector
Posts: 33546
Joined: 29 Dec 2006, 16:00
Location: In the naughty North and in the sexy South

Re: New now reading

Postby Minnie the Minx » 23 Mar 2021, 16:09

How come your reading slowed, DF?
You come at the Queen, you best not miss.

Dr Markus wrote:
Someone in your line of work usually as their own man cave aka the shed we're they can potter around fixing stuff or something don't they?


Flower wrote:I just did a google search.

User avatar
Darkness_Fish
Posts: 7793
Joined: 27 Jul 2015, 09:58

Re: New now reading

Postby Darkness_Fish » 23 Mar 2021, 16:40

Minnie the Minx wrote:How come your reading slowed, DF?

I think it's just that lockdown coincided with an increase workload, combined with being fed up of being stuck permanently in the same four walls. Coming home after work used to feel like somewhere to relax. Now I want to get out of the place, I just feel hemmed-in. Last thing I want to do after spending all day working at home is sit down in the same space.
Like fast-moving clouds casting shadows against a hillside, the melody-loop shuddered with a sense of the sublime, the awful unknowable majesty of the world.

User avatar
Minnie the Minx
funky thigh collector
Posts: 33546
Joined: 29 Dec 2006, 16:00
Location: In the naughty North and in the sexy South

Re: New now reading

Postby Minnie the Minx » 23 Mar 2021, 16:59

Gotcha.
You come at the Queen, you best not miss.

Dr Markus wrote:
Someone in your line of work usually as their own man cave aka the shed we're they can potter around fixing stuff or something don't they?


Flower wrote:I just did a google search.

Jimbo
Dribbling idiot airhead
Posts: 19645
Joined: 26 Dec 2009, 21:22

Re: New now reading

Postby Jimbo » 28 Mar 2021, 14:00

Image

It is only slightly better than this cover. It is, nonetheless, a lot of fun and I will carry on with the others in this series.
Question authority.


Return to “Nextdoorland”