Metamatic Forums Socialising The Green Room What are you reading these days

On a regular basis
When Skies Are Grey (Everton Fanzine )
Cycling Plus
New Scientist
(looking forward to this month's lot .postal atrike permitting !)
Bookwise
"Je François Villon" Jean Teulé
"Cité de la joie" Dominique La Pierre
"Il Corriere colombano " Massimo Carlotto (master of Italian noir )
Plus
FC Nuremberg fan's forum
I'm having Irvine Welsh withdrawal symptons Anyone know if he is due to have anything out soon ?

Interesting Thread

For me, this week its
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and
Isiah (Old Testament) and
Management and Organisational Strategy

nothing if not diverse

Instantly. I read it once.
First ten years? - fascinating.

What happened next?

I’m currently reading two books at the moment -

‘Hotel California: Singer-songwriters and Cocaine Cowboys in the L.A. Canyons 1967-1976’ by Barney Hoskyns

A period of music that I have zero interest in, but the stories and characters (Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Eagles, Jackson Browne, CSNY) make it a really fascinating book – how they all go from getting in the back of a truck to play at coffee bars to owning Lear jets and filling stadiums.

‘Japrocksampler: How the Post-war Japanese Blew Their Minds on Rock 'n' Roll’ by Julian Cope.

Yes THAT Julian Cope. It’s about how post-WW2 western culture infected Japanese culture, the clash between traditional, conservative Japanese values and the wild rock 'n' roll renegades of the 1960s and 70s. Very, very funny.

Just finished JG Ballard's "Kingdom Come", my first Ballard (see separate thread)

now just started "A History of Love" by Nicole Krauss

occasionally pick up Himalaya by Michael Palin . .not compulsive reading but my Dad gave it to me cos he had two. I like the idea of the travelogue...

Robert Llewelyn* : Brother Nature. 10p from a charry!

[*Yes, that's Kryten.]

Now there's a man with impeccable taste. I'm reading Japrocksampler also. Much more background information than Krautrocksampler & better for it.

It's a fascinating read about a genre I know very little about, but I like the way Julian writes, upfront & honest with no punches pulled.

I also have The Modern Antiquarian by Julian. If you like Stone Circles & Paganism stuff, then you'll dig this.

Cheers Ilektrik!

I love the way he writes – it’s very energetic, not bogged down in too much fact (the history of Japan in about 3 pages!), just enough to give you a taste, like he says – a ‘sampler’ of Japrock. I confess I’ve not read anything at all by Cope but I would really like to read Krautrocksampler, however copies currently go for stupid amounts on EBay. Here’s hoping the success of Japrocksampler means it gets a re-print. Along with the ones you mentioned, I will have to get a few others of his based on this – I hear his autobiography’s good too.

The parts re Ultravox/Visage were my favorites. The solo career stuff not so much.
And the overstated bits about his 'romantic' encounters were somewhat overemphasized :rolleyes:

i'm currently reading 'The Master and Margarita' by Mikhail Bulgakov, and also Eric Clapton's autobiography. The latter is the most powerful autobiography I've ever read - the amount of personal tragedy and self inflicted problems he's had and talks quite clearly about is astonishing, and actually quite levelling in many respects. The stuff he's come through makes the day to day things I find annoying incredibly trivial in comparison.