jazztalk.net

jazzbluescat wrote:

jaka wrote:Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey

The Kubrick's movie is among favorites but I hadn't read the book before. Found a left behind paperback at a recording session yesterday during a break, and enjoyed the 30-40 pages I had time to go through.
Any advice about the following books in the series, worth a shot?

Huh. I wasn't aware, or had forgotten, there was a 2001: A Space Odyssey book. I remember the flick, and as a rule, books are much better for carrying the story and stuff...I'll have to pick up the book. thanks

It's funny because the movie was released before the novel. My understanding was the Clarke wrote the screenplay and the novel at the same time.

Mr. Met wrote:My biggest issue with 2001? No baseball.

Yeah. Woulda been cool if they got to Jupiter and the monolith was the Field Of Dreams.

"Bad Monkey," Carl Hiassen's latest. What a relief from those depressed, alcoholic Scandinavian cops.

There's a laugh every page.

Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited,

aka: Oh Please, They're Obviously Totally Gay for Each Other

Julio Cortazar - Historias De Cronopios y de Famas

I just finished my second Clevinger (first was The Contortionist's Handbook, very interesting rather than gripping) and the second was...I don't remember, something with Derma in the title. I'm not sorry I read them but I'm done with him now.

Just shifted gears to something more predictable, another Jack reacher novel. As always, it's ok.

John Whitbourn - Binscombe Tales, vol 1

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/676165586

Sociology that reads like fiction. But isn't. As I read it, I kept thinking she was inventing dialogue. But it turns out she wasn't. There is an appendix that explains how she worked. I've never typed these words before: This is a must-read.

John Banville - The Book of Evidence

Finished CS Lewis' GOD IN THE DOCK here at the beach. Essays theological, literary, and cultural. Always rewarding for me.

batman inc. #13. the last grant morrison batman story for the foreseeable future.

Back to reading reissues of old 2000 A.D. comics after I finished reading Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey (great), 2010: Odyssey Two (good), 2061: Odyssey Three (so-so) a couple of weeks ago. Didn't have the nerve to try 3001: The Final Odyssey yet, as I fear Monte's definitive statement on it could be right...

There is a reason I make definitive statements, jaka. 2000 AD comics are great. I recently discovered my stash from Britain, 1987-89. Fun.

The last few have been:

Peppermint Twist: The Mob, The Music, & the Most Famous Dance Club Of The 60's - Enjoyed this one, talk about a book that should be a movie!

I Wear The Black Hat: Grappling With Villains (Real And Imagined) - An interesting an often humorous essay on what constitutes villainy (Not necessarily evil!)

Deal With The Devil: The FBI's Secret 30-Yr Relationship With A Mafia Killer - One of those books that confirms rumours as fact due to the release of documentation unavailable to the public until now. Written more like a report than a book, I wouldn't recommend unless yr into this kinda stuff, which I am, obviously! That said, our gov't never ceases to amaze me, 'nuff said!

I was bored and in between books so last week I reached for an old friend; George R.R. Martin's 'A Storm of Swords' - Book 3 of the Game of Thrones series. I've already read the whole series (5 books so far) TWICE!! I've been at it for 6 days actually and I'm already 500+ pages in! So yeah, I'll go out on a limb and recommend it!;) Forget about whether you enjoy the genre, if you enjoy a good read and haven't read this series you really should give it a try. Outstanding reading! Make's Grant Morrison's 12 yr old Batman saga read like an Archie comic!;)

I enjoyed and chuckled reading Gary's article in the New Yorker.

Henry IV part 1
Bloom's The Western Canon

Waiting for my summer copy of Lapham's Quarterly, The Sea.

A kind of fever dream, but a very humane fever dream.

"The Bat" by Jo Nesbo. The first Harry Hole (ho-leh) novel. It's good but a bit of a downer.

I've been mostly avoiding to read superhero comics these past years (eventual hype about so-called new takes on the genre has fallen flat so often in the past), but really enjoyed Bendis/Mack/Janson/Sienkiewicz' Daredevil: End of Days.



Pretty typical Bendis noir-style stuff, awesome artwork.

China Mieville (author), Mateus Santoloucu (illustrator) - Dial H, volume 1: Into You



I don't read many comics, but I enjoyed this. Not Mieville's best work - at least, compared to his novels - but pretty inventive. It was really confusing at times, though.

Recommendation noted. Seems intriguing enough from what I could get from googling it.

i started <a long long way> by sebastian barry,about the ww1 and the simultaneous fight for freedom in their land for irish soldiers and civilians.
i'm still in page 40 but it's almost certain it will satisfy me,i like the writer's style a lot.

by Will Hermes.

Thorough, informative, well-written and fun account of musical developments in many genres (including loft jazz) during a period which is often considered dormant.

Bonus points to Will Hermes for responding to my email telling him how much I was enjoying it.

steve(thelil) wrote:Thorough, informative, well-written and fun account of musical developments in many genres (including loft jazz) during a period which is often considered dormant.

Dormant? As in musically dormant? I'm not sure how you would get the idea that anyone anywhere in the world thinks that NYC in the 70s was musically dormant? I can think of fewer periods and places more musically fecund in the latter part of the 20th century.

I've been hoping that somebody would make a documentary covering precisely this subject matter with segments devoted to Punk, early Hip Hop, the loft jazz scene, Nuyorican music, and early grimy gay club Disco (more Paradise Garage than Studio 54).

Jeff Vandermeer - Shriek: An Afterword