The Book Thread

  • I recently finished Love All by Elizabeth Jane Howard, of whose work I'm a great admirer. It was one of her last novels and tells the stories of two families and the connections between them, set in England in the late 1960s.


    I'm now reading music journalist Dylan Jones's book about The Witchita Lineman, in my view one of the best songs ever written and certainly in my top 10 favourite songs. One thing I've already learned that I didn't previously know: when Jimmy Webb wrote it and sent it to Glen Campbell, he hadn't even finished it. He was still developing it but wanted Campbell's thoughts on his work in progress. The next thing he knew, Campbell had recorded it and that was that.

    Abandon all reason

  • I just finished Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. Without ever naming him it tells a story of Shakespeare's family, left alone in Stratford-upon-Avon for months while he worked in London, and how during one of these extended absences his young son dies.


    It's beautifully written and has one of the most moving endings of any book I've read. So much so that, sitting here in the café at Eden Court arts centre I was in tears. With actual sobbing and everything.

    Abandon all reason

  • If you can stomach a dystopian novel set in a tuberculosis sanatorium prior to World War One, read The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. Very heavy going. I thought the place was going to be exposed as a fraud, as people kept arrivng, and being diagnosed, and never leaving (as in Hotel California). Recommended.

  • This is a slight stretch, but the show I'm seeing tomorrow is a touring stage version of Jon Ronson's book The Psychopath Test, presented by the author. It seemed better suited to this book thread rather than the 'next gig' or live theatre threads. I don't really know what it involves but I gather there are special guest psychopaths each night! Wa-hey.


    It's at the Edinburgh Usher Hall so I arrived in the city today on a fine sunny morning. But it's a pleasure to be out and about in one of my favourite cities whatever the weather.


    genesis1964 - see pic. I was right outside the Golf Tavern! But don't worry, I won't come seeking you out, you're safe... I'm currently savouring delicious cocktails at the plush old-school Decanter bar (their Gentleman's Periodical is a thing of elegance) and staying in a B&B on Gilmore Place. Dinner at Valvona & Crolla followed by a film tonight.

    Abandon all reason

  • This is a slight stretch, but the show I'm seeing tomorrow is a touring stage version of Jon Ronson's book The Psychopath Test, presented by the author. It seemed better suited to this book thread rather than the 'next gig' or live theatre threads. I don't really know what it involves but I gather there are special guest psychopaths each night! Wa-hey.


    It's at the Edinburgh Usher Hall so I arrived in the city today on a fine sunny morning. But it's a pleasure to be out and about in one of my favourite cities whatever the weather.


    genesis1964 - see pic. I was right outside the Golf Tavern! But don't worry, I won't come seeking you out, you're safe... I'm currently savouring delicious cocktails at the plush old-school Decanter bar (their Gentleman's Periodical is a thing of elegance) and staying in a B&B on Gilmore Place. Dinner at Valvona & Crolla followed by a film tonight.

    Of course I know the area very well. Most of the shows I go to in Edinburgh tend to be at the Usher Hall. Nice venue, hope you enjoy.


    I envy you getting to different shows. Been a tough past 12 months for me including about 5/6 operations and constant stays either in hospital or in the flat (in fact I am currently stuck in the flat unable to go out for another 3 weeks). Spent more time off sick than actually at work.


    Vent over, sorry about that, just fed up

    “Without music, life would be a mistake”

  • Of course I know the area very well. Most of the shows I go to in Edinburgh tend to be at the Usher Hall. Nice venue, hope you enjoy.


    I envy you getting to different shows. Been a tough past 12 months for me including about 5/6 operations and constant stays either in hospital or in the flat (in fact I am currently stuck in the flat unable to go out for another 3 weeks). Spent more time off sick than actually at work.


    Vent over, sorry about that, just fed up

    Don’t blame you at all for venting. Whatever is going on there I hope you are the right side of it now and can get back out and about again.

    Cheers

  • Of course I know the area very well. Most of the shows I go to in Edinburgh tend to be at the Usher Hall. Nice venue, hope you enjoy.


    I envy you getting to different shows. Been a tough past 12 months for me including about 5/6 operations and constant stays either in hospital or in the flat (in fact I am currently stuck in the flat unable to go out for another 3 weeks). Spent more time off sick than actually at work.


    Vent over, sorry about that, just fed up

    Ugh. Sorry to hear that. Hope the remainder of your recovery is smoother than it sounds like things have gone so far.


    For books, I just finished a turgid, schlocky sci-fi horror book called Paradise-1. It was not great, with some terrible writing, but nonetheless kept me reading to the end. I just started a post-apocalyptic one by a Chinese author (i think) called Iron Widow. This one is *great* so far. And I'm also reading the fourth of James Elroy's LA quartet, White Jazz. That guy can really write but it is so visceral and gritty at times. And also sometimes very funny.

  • Vent over, sorry about that, just fed up

    No need to apologise. I think any reasonable person would be fed up in those circumstances. Very sorry to learn what a tough year it's been, that's rough. For whatever it's worth, all positive thoughts being transmitted in your direction certainly from over here down Gilmore and I'm sure everyone else here on the board.

    Abandon all reason

  • I'm currently reading How To Stop Time, a novel by Matt Haig. It's narrated by a man who's one of a small number of people who have a condition that causes them to age extremely slowly, in his case meaning he's speaking in the present day having been alive since the 16th century, yet in appearance he looks to be in his 40s.


    This is some of the best fiction writing I've read for a while. It's carried along by, and works with, the basic slow-aging concept brilliantly well. As well as conveying the wonder of all the historical development he's lived through it also starkly illustrates the pain and frustration that comes with it, and the unnerving practicalities of having to avoid his true nature being discovered. It's in turns uplifting, uncomfortable and deeply moving. But overall, absolutely compelling. I'm devouring it, totally gripped and with no clear sense of where it's going to go.

    Abandon all reason

  • Just finished reading Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis. Yes it is SF with a time travel theme but is is also a wonderful insight into the lives of ordinary people during WW2. How they managed to pick themselves up every day and carried on with their lives. As a charcter driving and ambulance to V1 bomb sites I was very aware that my dad had been in London though that period, in fact he was working in the Admiralty bunker near St James Park on the Sunday morning when a V1 fell across the park on the Guard's Chapel and killed 121 people. By the end of the book you realise that all these ordinary people where truly extraordinary.

  • I'm currently reading How To Stop Time, a novel by Matt Haig. It's narrated by a man who's one of a small number of people who have a condition that causes them to age extremely slowly, in his case meaning he's speaking in the present day having been alive since the 16th century, yet in appearance he looks to be in his 40s.


    I'm devouring it, totally gripped and with no clear sense of where it's going to go.

    Finished it the other day. Not yet sure what I think of the ending but the journey was extraordinary.


    Currently undecided what to move on to next. Having finished a novel, perhaps some nonfiction.

    Abandon all reason

  • Currently undecided what to move on to next. Having finished a novel, perhaps some nonfiction.

    I did indeed opt for nonfiction, Fingers Crossed, the autobiography of Miki Berenyi, formerly singer/guitarist with 90s indie shoegazy band Lush. I'm about ⅓way through, enjoying it very much. Her account of being raised by her philandering Hungarian father and Japanese actress/model mother is variously crazy, amusing, hair-raising and occasionally unsettling especially regarding the behaviour of her deeply unpleasant paternal grandmother.


    So far she's reached secondary school and just met the person who'd become a longtime friend and Lush bandmate.

    Abandon all reason