Whatcha reading?

[Dr. Medulla]

21) History of the Russian Revolution - Vol. 1: The Overthrow of Tsarism - Leon Trotsky. Boy, I've spent a very long time reading these dense 300 odd pages. Christ. Trotsky is at the level of a literary genius, his prose is clear and powerful and yet the very high amount of incident and ideas in the conflict filled months between February and June 1917 that fills this first part of his trilogy means that comprehending it was a job of work. He does that slightly annoying thing of writing about himself in the history in the third person, but I do buy his reasoning for doing so. Quite a bit of slagging off the anarchists, yet he's writing in 1932 - he sees where centralising power and forced collectivisation has take the Soviet Union. Dude, check the mud in your eye, there. I admire some of Trotsky, but he's a real bastard and utterly willing to crush real working class movements. His thesis here is that the revolution was a democratic movement in the most true sense of the word and he's sold me on the idea. Going to wrap all three volumes up and then read others on 1917, then suss out the rest of twentieth century Russia.

When I was much younger and much more impressionable, I read his The Revolution Betrayed after reading Animal Farm and was captivated by his writing. Plus I was sufficiently ignorant about Trotsky's beliefs that I didn't it read it all the critically.

I'm grateful I didn't read him before meeting Gene, Kevin & Jon - I'd be a marxist now if I had. Fuck, maybe a Marxist-Leninist.

Bingo. He's skilled enough to make Marxism romantic. The Old Left in the US—the anti-Stalinist Marxists in the 30s, 40s, and early 50s—were enchanted with Trotsky. And then a fair chunk of them, notably Irving Kristol, became neocons, never losing that romantic attachment to action and revolution.

[Silent Majority]

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Audiobook read by the great David Warner. Fucking hell, this is one of the greatest novels ever! I haven't been so creeped out by a work of fiction since reading The Shining aged about 13. I saw - and loved - the film adaptation ages ago and have been meaning to catch up since. A superb work of art that's dedicated to freaking the reader out that's rich with human emotion too.

[Dr. Medulla]

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Audiobook read by the great David Warner. Fucking hell, this is one of the greatest novels ever! I haven't been so creeped out by a work of fiction since reading The Shining aged about 13. I saw - and loved - the film adaptation ages ago and have been meaning to catch up since. A superb work of art that's dedicated to freaking the reader out that's rich with human emotion too.

Hey, I have that on my exercise audiobook iPod. It's been in the queue for fucking ever and keeps getting bumped down whenever something new catches my eye. I have a good dozen books on that have been there for probably five years, constantly punished by roaming and cheating eye (ear?).

[Silent Majority]

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Audiobook read by the great David Warner. Fucking hell, this is one of the greatest novels ever! I haven't been so creeped out by a work of fiction since reading The Shining aged about 13. I saw - and loved - the film adaptation ages ago and have been meaning to catch up since. A superb work of art that's dedicated to freaking the reader out that's rich with human emotion too.

Hey, I have that on my exercise audiobook iPod. It's been in the queue for fucking ever and keeps getting bumped down whenever something new catches my eye. I have a good dozen books on that have been there for probably five years, constantly punished by roaming and cheating eye (ear?).

Push 19th Century's Baseball Most Punishing Statistics aside, imo, and let one of the best things I've ever listened to elbow to the front of the queue.

[Dr. Medulla]

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Audiobook read by the great David Warner. Fucking hell, this is one of the greatest novels ever! I haven't been so creeped out by a work of fiction since reading The Shining aged about 13. I saw - and loved - the film adaptation ages ago and have been meaning to catch up since. A superb work of art that's dedicated to freaking the reader out that's rich with human emotion too.

Hey, I have that on my exercise audiobook iPod. It's been in the queue for fucking ever and keeps getting bumped down whenever something new catches my eye. I have a good dozen books on that have been there for probably five years, constantly punished by roaming and cheating eye (ear?).

Push 19th Century's Baseball Most Punishing Statistics aside, imo, and let one of the best things I've ever listened to elbow to the front of the queue.

Fuck you if you think I'm going to cheat myself from appreciating the origins of the dropped-third-strike rule. But because I'm still counting on you to "disappear" Heston at an appropriate time, I'll move it up to second or third on the list.

[Silent Majority]

Jamaica Inn - Daphne De Maurier. Library borrow. I picked this one up cos of Hitch's Rebecca being so damn good. This is a good novel too, very finely written somewhere between Wuthering Heights and Robert Louis Stevenson. A young woman goes to live with her aunt but the uncle is an abusive drunk who purposely wrecks ships for the booty. Ideally read quickly this one, because the story seems to only sustain bursting through it. I got a bit bored of the characters before the end. If I wasn't doing my nerdy counting books thing I'd probably have laid it aside, which is a point in nerdiness' favour. Glad I read all. The film version, also done by Hitchcock, was too cartoony for me, though Maureen O'Hara will not be argued with.

[Dr. Medulla]

Tub book:


Bought this after a student brought it to my attention. Of course, after it arrived, I realized I took it out of the library and scanned it. Sigh. Anyway, it's a lot more touchy-feely, Boomer memoir about how the music meant more man and the drugs made them more in touch with the universe, etc etc. It's not awful by any means, but it's not as demanding of the subject matter as I hoped. Not something I'd assign to a discussion class, anyway.

[Kory]

Tub book:


Bought this after a student brought it to my attention. Of course, after it arrived, I realized I took it out of the library and scanned it. Sigh. Anyway, it's a lot more touchy-feely, Boomer memoir about how the music meant more man and the drugs made them more in touch with the universe, etc etc. It's not awful by any means, but it's not as demanding of the subject matter as I hoped. Not something I'd assign to a discussion class, anyway.

And the student gets an F!

[Dr. Medulla]

Tub book:


Bought this after a student brought it to my attention. Of course, after it arrived, I realized I took it out of the library and scanned it. Sigh. Anyway, it's a lot more touchy-feely, Boomer memoir about how the music meant more man and the drugs made them more in touch with the universe, etc etc. It's not awful by any means, but it's not as demanding of the subject matter as I hoped. Not something I'd assign to a discussion class, anyway.

And the student gets an F!

She's succeeding in spite of all that because I am a merciful shaved ape.

[Heston]

A decent read and I've never heard anyone wax as lyrical about Sandinista as this man...

[Dr. Medulla]

Don't want to read Capital? Listen to it! Only 43 hours of your life.
https://forum.mobilism.org/viewtopic.ph ... &t=2529280

Also, tomorrow a new tub book:

Pretty sure it was Flex who recommended this at some point, but I bought a copy a few weeks ago and I just finished that crappy book on psychedelics and the 60s.

[Silent Majority]

Don't want to read Capital? Listen to it! Only 43 hours of your life.
https://forum.mobilism.org/viewtopic.php?f=124&t=252928

Dude, I have been listening to it. I'm at hour 17.

[Flex]

Also, tomorrow a new tub book:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com ... 3,200_.jpg
Pretty sure it was Flex who recommended this at some point, but I bought a copy a few weeks ago and I just finished that crappy book on psychedelics and the 60s.

I loved this book when I last read it - which was probably college. I'll be curious your take, my foggy memory is that it's probably not as "here's an argument" as you'll be keen for, but I was so in love with all this music then (and still am) that I just ate up the history.

[Dr. Medulla]

Don't want to read Capital? Listen to it! Only 43 hours of your life.
https://forum.mobilism.org/viewtopic.php?f=124&t=252928

Dude, I have been listening to it. I'm at hour 17.

You're insane. I can't conceive of listening to it and understanding it well enough. I had to re-read passages several times, sometimes cross-referencing with secondary source analyses.

[Dr. Medulla]

Also, tomorrow a new tub book:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com ... 3,200_.jpg
Pretty sure it was Flex who recommended this at some point, but I bought a copy a few weeks ago and I just finished that crappy book on psychedelics and the 60s.

I loved this book when I last read it - which was probably college. I'll be curious your take, my foggy memory is that it's probably not as "here's an argument" as you'll be keen for, but I was so in love with all this music then (and still am) that I just ate up the history.

Funny, because the more snarly reviews I came across were put off by the politics. Even tho I'm not much of a fan of the music itself—some I like, some leaves me flat—I'm interested because DC was a more overtly and self-consciously political scene.