books: what are you currently reading?

[tuffythepug]

I recently spent about a week in the Salinas Valley in Calif. which is the setting for many of Steinbeck's books including a large part of East of Eden.  Even all these years later his ghost hangs in the air all around.  The migrant workers were harvesting lettuce, broccoli, strawberries and other crops all around and it was very eerie to be watching scenes that he must have watched while writing his stories.  His ability to shine a literary light on the human condition remains unmatched in my opinion.

[dynapro]

Just finishing up "Skydog" :  the biography of Duane Allman.  How good would he have been now with another 35 years or so under his belt ?  Terriffic talent who burned out way too young.

I didn't know there was a biography of Duane Allman out. I missed that. I read Midnight Rider, the biography of Greg Allman last year. Whew. Only one in a thousand can lead that kind of life and live to talk about it. I'd be much more interested in Duane's story than Greg's. Greg is a second tier shodow of his Miindblowing brother.

I'm from Georgia, in the era of the Allman Brothers and believe it or not, I saw them perform many times back in the day. Duane, Greg, Barry Oakley. We talked to them after a show once, Duane gave my guitar player his steel slide.   

[tuffythepug]

I didn't know there was a biography of Duane Allman out. I missed that. I read Midnight Rider, the biography of Greg Allman last year. Whew. Only one in a thousand can lead that kind of life and live to talk about it. I'd be much more interested in Duane's story than Greg's. Greg is a second tier shodow of his Miindblowing brother.

I'm from Georgia, in the era of the Allman Brothers and believe it or not, I saw them perform many times back in the day. Duane, Greg, Barry Oakley. We talked to them after a show once, Duane gave my guitar player his steel slide.   

Just for your information:    Skydog (the Duane Allman Story) is authored by Randy Poe who is a very prolific writer of books, magazine articles, and over 100 album liner notes.  The forward was written by Billy Gibbons
Copyright 2006..........Published by Backbeat Books   600 Harrison St.  San Francisco, Ca.


I saw him play only once, in SF,  when they were the Allman Joys and they were touring the West Coast.  Had to have been late 60s.

Until I read his biography I had no idea he had played on so many other people's records as well as the ABB records.  he made a lot of music in his short life.

[Queequeg]

I auditioned for this gig @ the hospital here to play in their huge lobby and in the surgery waiting rooms. It's a program called Gifts of Art. They want live acoustic instrumental music, which, co-incidentally is what I do. I mentioned to the woman I auditioned for that one of my motivations for wanting to do this was to kick this life-long stage fright; performance anxiety I deal with. She recommended that I read this book: "A Soprano on Her Head" by Eloise Ristad.
So, that's what I'm reading. pretty good suggestions on how to banish your demons and judges.
I passed the audition, BTW. 

[eor]

currently-
the room - hubert selby jr (eor's favorite author!)

recently finished-
being there - jerzy koskinski - mentioned a few pages back; had seen the movie before, too.  good little book, but they did a great job fleshing out and filling in for the movie.  sellers was super great.

the alchemist- paulo cohelo - well... i got it.  eor can say that much.  read the entire thing in one day.  fun little read.  cute, even.  i guess i can see why it was one of the most popular books of all time.  way too positve for someone like me, but i'll try and read it again soon.

love,
eor

future reading-

have a few garcia marquez books lying around eor hasn't gotten to, and wanted to pick up a copy of "a confederacy of dunces" to see what the fuss was about.  yay half.com!

[Caleb]

yay half.com!

Absolutely.  That's where I buy most of my books.  I try to use my local library as much as possible, but otherwise, it's half.com


Speaking of the library, I run into lots of folks who won't go there.  They seem to think it's low class or something.  One person in particular thinks it's *gross* to read a book that many people have touched and could have possibly read while on the toilet.  I guess I'd just never thought about it.  To me the library is about the coolest thing that our tax dollars go to and I never understand why more folks don't use them.  You can thank Ben Franklin for the library system, as well as many other cool inventions. 

[jeremy3220]

When I buy books I always try to get them used off Amazon. I always look for the oldest hardback edition I can find - they look better on the shelf.
In a 1941 edition of 'The Painted Veil' I found what appears to be a receipt from a dentist. It is written on a prescription slip and has the dentist's name, location and phone number (184). It reads "Received from Dorothy Douglas thirty eight dollars ($38.00) Feb. 12-1944 Paid in full Dr. CM. Brown "
She must have used it as a book mark. It's funny, we have the same last name.

[Caleb]

Amazon is also a great place to get cheap books. 

Cool story, jeremy. 

[LawDogStrgsAttach]

The library is not below me.  I still avoid it.  I heavily annotate the books I read, and libraries tend not to like that sort of thing.  I do also believe the author is worth my dollar, and since I discrimnate what I read, they ought to get paid for it instead of bumming it off tax dollars.

[Caleb]

I do also believe the author is worth my dollar, and since I discrimnate what I read, they ought to get paid for it instead of bumming it off tax dollars.

Interesting perspective on the library there.  But to me it seems like everyone wins with the library system.  1stly, the author gets paid for his book, 2nd the people get exposed to his work, which makes them more likely to purchase more of his work in the future, but most of all the community is made all the more rich, culturally, for the service the library provides (this is exactly what Franklin had in mind).  There's a wealth of knowledge and culture just sitting there for the taking if only people will utilize it.  It's sad for me to see the arcades and malls full of kids while the library is hardly full more times than not.  But there's always a few geeks like me in there taking advantage of it.

[LawDogStrgsAttach]

Interesting perspective on the library there.  But to me it seems like everyone wins with the library system.  1stly, the author gets paid for his book, 2nd the people get exposed to his work, which makes them more likely to purchase more of his work in the future, but most of all the community is made all the more rich, culturally, for the service the library provides (this is exactly what Franklin had in mind).  There's a wealth of knowledge and culture just sitting there for the taking if only people will utilize it.  It's sad for me to see the arcades and malls full of kids while the library is hardly full more times than not.  But there's always a few geeks like me in there taking advantage of it.

that is a great idea in theory - but simply impossible in (post) modern American society.  We have the irony of the most college degrees per capita in our history while being appallingly igorant to true education in the humanities.  Franklin's idea works where there is a) true educatio (eg, greece or the enlightenment) and b) a shortage of books.

And regarding the author's dollar idea, my single purchase increased the sale from the library 100%.  And I think the contrary is true:  those who read the book from the library's loan and even LESS apt to buy it; since they read it already.  Ideas are disposable to most people. 

I do appreciate your appreciation, though - you enjoy the tax investment the way it is intended.

[Caleb]

that is a great idea in theory - but simply impossible in (post) modern American society.  We have the irony of the most college degrees per capita in our history while being appallingly igorant to true education in the humanities.  Franklin's idea works where there is a) true educatio (eg, greece or the enlightenment) and b) a shortage of books.

And regarding the author's dollar idea, my single purchase increased the sale from the library 100%.  And I think the contrary is true:  those who read the book from the library's loan and even LESS apt to buy it; since they read it already.  Ideas are disposable to most people. 

I do appreciate your appreciation, though - you enjoy the tax investment the way it is intended.

Very well put, and you may be right.  Perhaps I'm a bit idealistic and nostalgic, but I do enjoy the library.  It may seem kind of goofy, but it's kind of humbling for me to walk in there and be surrounding by so much art and culture from the ages.  There are so many wonderful things waiting to be experienced within those pages, but so few people will actually experience them.  Sometimes when I'm reading a book and really get into the characters, and really get moved by the story, I get this sense that that must have been exactly what the author hoped for when the story was written.  There is a connection there that you simply will not get from pop culture and the movies. 







Regarding books:

I just started Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. 

[jeremy3220]

I just started Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. 

Did you finish East of Eden already?
I'm about half way through.

[Caleb]

Did you finish East of Eden already?
I'm about half way through.

No, I'm still working on it.  I'd say I'm about where you are....about half way.  It's a great story and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.  The characters are fascinating. 

[el guitana]

I've been on a Cormac McCarthy binge. Just finished the Border Trilogy.
Tales of the old and not so old west, each with strange twists.

[tuffythepug]

Currenty reading "Whistling Season"  by Ivan Doing

Recently finished  "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer (Into Thin Air)
and "A Death in Belmont" by Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm)

I've been reading a lot more lately for some reason;  going through about a book-a-week;.  This is getting to be expensive.  Gotta start getting back into the library.

[piscator]

I just finished reading this entire wonderful thread!

There are some clever, trenchant, talented, humorous, erudite, generous, thoughtful folks contributing here!

I am on a Shakepeare kick at the moment.  I like working with text, critical materials and a film version as one project.  Just finished Troilus and Cressida and purchased the fabulous BBC version of the play from Ambrose.

Like others here I enjoyed the Mcarty trilogy, which are among the few recent novels I've read. 

For those interested in spiritual inspiration, how about a golden oldie: Imitation of Christ by Thomas Kempis

Jerry Coker wrote a great instruction book on Jazz improvisation. 

bookfinder.com is another online source for out of print bargains

Next up: Theory and Harmony for the Contemporary Musician by Arnie Berle

Thanks for many great suggestions!

Piscator

[jwb]

Working on "The Adventures of Augie March"  by Saul Bellow...A modern american classic. 

Fionn Regan mentions the book in a song on his new album "The End of History" - great album if you have an ear for Nick Drake.

Justin

[Caleb]

For those interested in spiritual inspiration, how about a golden oldie: Imitation of Christ


Piscator

I keep an e-book copy of the Imitiation of Christ on my computer and read from it a bit each day.  I use it as sort of a "devotional" book, though I don't really like that term, but I'll use it for lack of a better one.  A person cannot grasp the Imitation by trying to read it like a regular book --- I've tried.  In my experience, it's better to eat it a bite at time, slowly, to really grasp what's being said.  I really enjoy reading from it and haven't found many books with such depth, at least to my soul.  Modern Christian books just do not have the insight that the old ones did, in my opinion.  I hardly even read contemporary Christian writers anymore.  The last one I tried was "Driven by Eternity" by a guy named Bavere (sp?).  It read like all the other fluffy best-sellers out there and didn't offer much as far as depth or content to meditate on. I think I was born in the wrong century. 

[old folky]

Hi all,

     Just finished "Hannibal Rising" by Thomas Harris.  A pretty good book if you like this type.  Next up is another Ann Rule book called "Without Pity".  I've read a ton of her stuff and they've all been good.  They're all true  cases from crime files.

Old Folky