Hello! The clocks have changed here in the US and the dark cold months are upon us. Time to get cozy and hunker down with a good book or movie, and to listen to your favorite tunes. Tell us what you’re reading, watching, or listening to as we start the descent into winter.
I've started reading Kid Congo Powers' memoir "Some New Kind of Kick." He tells of his childhood in LA, and how he ended up in the glam/punk rock scene which led to playing with bands like Gun Club, The Cramps, and Nick Cave and Bad Seeds. https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/406b1aa4-af0c-4705-bde3-cf59e0b26992
i think i've re-read good omens dozens of times, but i finally got my first Terry Pratchett discworld book, Mort. it's so clever and quick and funny and charming! i was never sure where to start with him because there are so many books, so a friend picked one out for me. i'm excited to read more of the discworld books this winter, but my sister also lent me the giver quartet by lois lowry, which she devoured in a a matter of weeks. my to-read book pile is quite large right now!
the algorithm decided i needed to listen to the mars volta a couple of weeks ago, and now i'm having a bit of a hyperfixation. i loved at the drive in, but never got into mars volta, and i know purists think the new album is maybe too mainstream, but it's so good! i spent saturday with my sister's eldest child (who i have to much in common with it's wild) and we listened to a lot of the new album as well as deloused in the comatorium. the moral of this story is i might be into prog rock.
i'd also like to recommend for watching: museum of home video. every tuesday at 7:30 PST they do a live show online (www.museumofhomevideo.com) full of the strangest and most amazing media. last night included eartha kitt through the ages, soviet sci-fi animation from the 80s, small town canadian television commercials from the 80s, and other delights. it's really good, you never know what's next, and if you hate something, you don't have to watch for long. it's very reminiscent of late night cable tv flipping through channels. they do a music video version a couple times a month, and a cartoon show too!
I've just finished E.F. Benson's series of Mapp & Lucia novels. For whatever reason, in the last several years I've taken to inter-war British comic novels of manners. I think I read too many WWI histories and I needed a break, and the women in the books are all finding their strengths and new freedoms post-cataclysm. Along the lines of Agatha Christie, the books give lie to the notion of old English villages as sleepy backwaters--there are schemes, vituperations, and petty snobberies. Think P.G. Wodehouse but with fangs.
For something completely different, I'm dipping in and out of Kenya Hara's 100 Whites, which I bought at Peter Miller Books in the Beforetimes and never got around to reading. Hara is director of Muji, and one of the great design writers. If you can find a copy, it's also a simple, beautiful object. Would make a great side-by-side read with The Secret Language of Color.
I was so sad to hear of Hilary Mantel's death last month so I thought I'd do a re-read of Wolf Hall which I had read about twenty years ago. It's sooo good! I think I'm enjoying it even more on a second read, especially having seen the adapted mini-series a few years back starring the incomparable Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell. After that I intend to read the rest of Mantel's trilogy which I have not yet read. And in between, my book club (made up of a bunch of my artist friends, all women) will be reading Peggy Guggenheim's memoir Confessions of an Art Addict. Dishy stuff! I just finished watching Bad Sisters, an entertaining Irish dark comedy, that left me feeling sad that I have no sisters with which to be bad. Last night I watched Village of the Damned. I dvr'd so many classic horror movies off of TCM in October that I'm just getting to watch now. Cheers, Anne!
Just finished "The Swerve" oldish book that won a Pulitzer. Its about insights in antiquity, how knowledge can be lost if not nurtured but hopefully re-emerge. A decent explanation of The Dark Ages. Now reading Murder with Peacocks an escapist series thats just fun. In between the best book I've read about Modern Ireland titled "We don't know ourselves" by Fintan O'Toole -- great writing, not finished but will be soon.
In "The Measure" by Nikki Erlick, everyone in the world aged 22 and older receives a package. Inside the package is a piece of string indicating how long the recipient will live. Long string, long life. Short string, pfft. Would you open your box? This is a hold-it-close-to-your-heart book.
In "All That's Left Unsaid" by Tracey Lien, a Vietnamese family strives to fit into their Australian community. When the youngest child is killed, the surviving family members are torn apart by their grief. The daughter sets out to discover what happened to her brother. Beautiful and heart-wrenching.
I've started reading Kid Congo Powers' memoir "Some New Kind of Kick." He tells of his childhood in LA, and how he ended up in the glam/punk rock scene which led to playing with bands like Gun Club, The Cramps, and Nick Cave and Bad Seeds. https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/406b1aa4-af0c-4705-bde3-cf59e0b26992
i think i've re-read good omens dozens of times, but i finally got my first Terry Pratchett discworld book, Mort. it's so clever and quick and funny and charming! i was never sure where to start with him because there are so many books, so a friend picked one out for me. i'm excited to read more of the discworld books this winter, but my sister also lent me the giver quartet by lois lowry, which she devoured in a a matter of weeks. my to-read book pile is quite large right now!
the algorithm decided i needed to listen to the mars volta a couple of weeks ago, and now i'm having a bit of a hyperfixation. i loved at the drive in, but never got into mars volta, and i know purists think the new album is maybe too mainstream, but it's so good! i spent saturday with my sister's eldest child (who i have to much in common with it's wild) and we listened to a lot of the new album as well as deloused in the comatorium. the moral of this story is i might be into prog rock.
i'd also like to recommend for watching: museum of home video. every tuesday at 7:30 PST they do a live show online (www.museumofhomevideo.com) full of the strangest and most amazing media. last night included eartha kitt through the ages, soviet sci-fi animation from the 80s, small town canadian television commercials from the 80s, and other delights. it's really good, you never know what's next, and if you hate something, you don't have to watch for long. it's very reminiscent of late night cable tv flipping through channels. they do a music video version a couple times a month, and a cartoon show too!
I've just finished E.F. Benson's series of Mapp & Lucia novels. For whatever reason, in the last several years I've taken to inter-war British comic novels of manners. I think I read too many WWI histories and I needed a break, and the women in the books are all finding their strengths and new freedoms post-cataclysm. Along the lines of Agatha Christie, the books give lie to the notion of old English villages as sleepy backwaters--there are schemes, vituperations, and petty snobberies. Think P.G. Wodehouse but with fangs.
For something completely different, I'm dipping in and out of Kenya Hara's 100 Whites, which I bought at Peter Miller Books in the Beforetimes and never got around to reading. Hara is director of Muji, and one of the great design writers. If you can find a copy, it's also a simple, beautiful object. Would make a great side-by-side read with The Secret Language of Color.
I was so sad to hear of Hilary Mantel's death last month so I thought I'd do a re-read of Wolf Hall which I had read about twenty years ago. It's sooo good! I think I'm enjoying it even more on a second read, especially having seen the adapted mini-series a few years back starring the incomparable Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell. After that I intend to read the rest of Mantel's trilogy which I have not yet read. And in between, my book club (made up of a bunch of my artist friends, all women) will be reading Peggy Guggenheim's memoir Confessions of an Art Addict. Dishy stuff! I just finished watching Bad Sisters, an entertaining Irish dark comedy, that left me feeling sad that I have no sisters with which to be bad. Last night I watched Village of the Damned. I dvr'd so many classic horror movies off of TCM in October that I'm just getting to watch now. Cheers, Anne!
Just finished "The Swerve" oldish book that won a Pulitzer. Its about insights in antiquity, how knowledge can be lost if not nurtured but hopefully re-emerge. A decent explanation of The Dark Ages. Now reading Murder with Peacocks an escapist series thats just fun. In between the best book I've read about Modern Ireland titled "We don't know ourselves" by Fintan O'Toole -- great writing, not finished but will be soon.
I've just finished two excellent books!
In "The Measure" by Nikki Erlick, everyone in the world aged 22 and older receives a package. Inside the package is a piece of string indicating how long the recipient will live. Long string, long life. Short string, pfft. Would you open your box? This is a hold-it-close-to-your-heart book.
In "All That's Left Unsaid" by Tracey Lien, a Vietnamese family strives to fit into their Australian community. When the youngest child is killed, the surviving family members are torn apart by their grief. The daughter sets out to discover what happened to her brother. Beautiful and heart-wrenching.