Of late I have mostly been reading...

[ladyboygrimsby]

Just finished reading Viv Albertine's book, finally, after starting in the summer, leaving it on a train bound for Brighton, as I alighted at Gatwick Airport. Muyst say I'm blown away by it, especially the chapters about her trying for a baby. Not that the Slits and punk stuff isn't fascinating, but her yearning for a baby is so well written and so powerful. I'm full of admiration for her writing after this.

[Sonovox]

as a student in Liverpool, my wife helped Stafford Beer catalogue/ archive his life. true fact, that is. not a recent fact, to be fair, but she may have something kicking around the house... i'll ask...

Wowzee, sounds like a fascinating job! Just checking out the online catalogues and materials for the Stafford Beer Collection at LJMU now... Looks like they have all his gramophone records stashed away in the collection too...

I think he referred to the books he wrote as "20 pints of beer". But I've only ever had a shandy's worth.

[Mr Naga]

This was the best book I read last year although Brautigan can occasionally make me squirm with his leering misogyny.

[alanmck]

Currently reading about Stafford Beer whose writings have always proved elusive, fascinating to read about his attempts to govern the operation of a steelworks via a garden pond, cyberneticize the economy of Chile circa 1972, etc. etc.

as a student in Liverpool, my wife helped Stafford Beer catalogue/ archive his life. true fact, that is. not a recent fact, to be fair, but she may have something kicking around the house... i'll ask...

[Sonovox]

I still serially acquire books, but rarely manage to read them through. Lots of pictures is good. Recents:



Gravity's Engines by Caleb Scharf. Quite interesting rundown of the modern picture of black holes and how they interact with matter to drive the formation of large-scale structure in the universe.



Wall Hangings Of Today by Vera Sherman. Ace pictures of 1970s textile art.



The World Encyclopedia Of Naive Art. Vast and mighty tome illustrating naive art from around the globe.



Currently working my way through The Cybernetic Brain: Sketches of Another Future by Andrew Pickering. This focuses on British cybernetics guys (Walter Grey, Ross Ashby, RD Laing, Stafford Beer, Gordon Pask) and their stuggles to define a 'non-modern ontology'. Despite the abstruse and technical nature of some of this (words like 'hylozoism' are regularly invoked) there is plenty of interest here for me. Currently reading about Stafford Beer whose writings have always proved elusive, fascinating to read about his attempts to govern the operation of a steelworks via a garden pond, cyberneticize the economy of Chile circa 1972, etc. etc. Looking forward to reading about Gordon Pask who seems to possibly be the most wide-ranging thinker and doer of them all: I have long had a copy of his 'The Cybernetics of Human Learning and Performance' which is WAY too dense to get through, so even a semi-digestible version of his career will be most welcome.

[Mr Naga]

I am working my way slowly and unenthusiastically through "The Grapes Of Wrath" at the moment. So darn bleak though, it's not helping the generally low mood I've been in of late. Much preferred "Cannery Row", which I read last year.

It just gets bleaker and bleaker. If you liked Cannery Row try Sweet Thursday which follows on from CR with the same characters. Also Tortilla Flats is worth a read.

[RedX]

I am working my way slowly and unenthusiastically through "The Grapes Of Wrath" at the moment. So darn bleak though, it's not helping the generally low mood I've been in of late. Much preferred "Cannery Row", which I read last year. Finished James Fearnley's Pogues book a couple of days ago and received Bernard Sumner's autobiography at Christmas, so that's next

Best book I've read in a long, long time: "Pure" by Andrew Miller

[eine]

Cool book. Good to see that it has an original English Ranter in there. Last year I went weeeell out of my comfort zone performings excerpts of A Fiery Flying Roll by Abiezer Coppe alongside a noise artist who manipulated by voice. I've recorded it but can't yet bear to listen to it...

[medlar]

Now onto Rants and Incendiary Tracts:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...endiary_Tracts

Very enjoyable

[eine]

Read this - by John Williams from 1965 - on holiday and would recommend it to anyone still interested in perfectly shaped novels.

I read that. I appreciated the tension of the novel and the growing sense of momentum releasing into a fantastic end. However it was also kind of 'austerity chic' and a little dull too.

I also read Fuel-Injected Dreams by James Robert Baker about a thinly disguised Phil Spector. Lots of rock roll and overwriting, but lots of fun too. Here we go:



I've put an excerpt up on my blog

Got a few more semi-trashy books about rock n'roll which I want to read this year and will post up.

Anyone else read anything good/bad of late?

[Sonovox]

No Moorcock? Not even the Jerry Cornelius stuff? Diminishing returns, but the first few books in the series are great psychedelic nonsense.

I think wading through Barefoot In The Head killed any desire I ever had for novel length psychedelic nonsense.

[ginghamkitchen]

No Moorcock? Not even the Jerry Cornelius stuff? Diminishing returns, but the first few books in the series are great psychedelic nonsense.

[Sonovox]

Thomas M Disch was one of the New Worlds bunch, despite being American, and his Camp Concentration is a proper mind melter. 334 is great, too.

Cosigned on that. Camp Concentration - beautifully tasteless title and epically bonkers. Not just a fluke either, The Genocides, Echo Round His Bones, White Fang Goes Dingo (short stories) - all highly rateable Disch.

Haven´t tried Harrison and for some reason Moorcock absolutely terrifies me.

Never managed to get through anything by Moorcock either.

[babycart]

Thomas M Disch was one of the New Worlds bunch, despite being American, and his Camp Concentration is a proper mind melter. 334 is great, too.
Haven´t tried Harrison and for some reason Moorcock absolutely terrifies me.

[eine]

Ahh - a friend was telling me about this - Moorcock had M John Harrison reviewing books for New Worlds when he was 16 or so, right? Have a strong stomach for avant guarde lit so I will enjoy this.

Sometimes I wish I was a Borg and was endless and cold and could assimilate IT ALL.