The Medusa Fora

I'm reading "The book thief" by Forgothisnamealready. I like it lots, especially his writing style (The art of Saumensching!). The whole idea of having Death as the narrator of a story also quite appeals to me.

I've also picked out a few books to read up on Michael Collins and the Treaty.

Michael Collins "The path to freedom" (articles and speeches by the man himself)
Tim Pat Coogan "The IRA"

Will have to roam through my boxes of books stashed away for more. I'm afraid the TP Coogan book might not be too relevant here.

"Moby Dick"... i shit you not. I've been listening to "Leviathan" by mastodon for a while and i thought, "shit, i gotta know what this is all about".

Hmm, so how is Moby Dick? It's absolutely the only thing I neglected to read at school.

Just so people don't think I do nothing but read comic books, I also read Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra. It's a gently noir-ish novel about police and organized crime in India.

Also read Neuromancer, by William Gibson. Gibson's just said science fiction is becoming impossible to write. Society and technology are changing so fast that the best a sci fi writer can do is develop alternate, concurrent realities. Sci fi meets magic realism?

Sandyfromvancouver wrote:...Gibson's just said science fiction is becoming impossible to write. Society and technology are changing so fast that the best a sci fi writer can do is develop alternate, concurrent realities. Sci fi meets magic realism?

Great point. Great writer.

echo park - michael connelly

Eckhard wrote:

Johan From Sweden wrote:

Eckhard wrote:"A History of Cannibalism" - Nathan Constantine

Did he put his foot in his mouth?

Jaysus! HE puts his foot in his mouth, YOU laugh yer head off. It's not the anthropophagism I'm worried about, it's looking more like a plague of leprosy.

Caine Mutiny-Herman Wouk

Sandyfromvancouver wrote:Anybody read Neil Gaiman's Endless Nights? I found it enthralling. Graphic novels can be so cool.

I have not, but i'll put it on my list, as i love Neil Gaiman. Got to meet him & the kids had their copy of "Wolves In The Walls" signed, too.

I'm reading One Long Tune: the Life & Music of Lenny Breau right now. I'll happily admit a lot of the music theory talk is beyond me, but thus far it's also a great portrait of an artist growing & struggling for his craft & all that. Plus it just told me that he did some demos in Toronto in 1961 with Rick Danko & Levon Helm (at that time still in Ronnie Hawkin's Hawks in residence on Younge Street) as the rhythm section. These were released in 2003 as The Hallmark Sessions. Look for this to pop up in the What album have you just bought thread in the next few months...

Hey Low D, I notice you are from Coast Salish territory. I'm living on Burrard and Musqueam territory.

Speaking of aboriginal matters, right now I'm reading Me Funny, edited by Drew Hayden Taylor. If you ever get a copy, check out Tomson's Highway's version of Creation. It is hilarious and life affirming.

Speaking of Tomson Highway, did you catch the Rez Sisters at Freddy Wood? I thought the actor who played Nanabush/bingomaster did fantastic work.

Just finished Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

it was rather spectacular

Finished: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
Started: Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger

Celtic United - Frank Worrall

I'm reading a book called The Shipwrecked Men by Alvar Nuñez Cabeça de Vaca.

Cabeça de Vaca a conquistador in the 1500s and sailed with around 600 other men from Castile to Cuba, then to Florida, and from Florida the men marched to Mexico City. They were the first white men to ever view the American Southwest. Yet, due to the poor leadership of Governor Pánfilo, only four men, including Cabeça de Vaca, survived.

He wrote a long chronicle of the journey to give to the Charles V, king of Spain, explaining what all happened and how the journey could be that much of a failure. Eventually it got published as a book, the very one I'm reading, and Cabeça de Vaca became famous.

The Road from Wigan Pier by Andrew Ross.

Stieg Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Humungous Swedish crime novel, finally translated into English, and it's an absolute gem. Larsson, who was a journalist campaigning against the far right, died a couple of years ago. Not long before he died he apparently went to a publishers and gave them three manuscripts. This is the first one.