Whatcha reading?

Sweet action for kids 'n' cretins. Marjoram and capers.
Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

6) Harold Wilson - Ben Pimlott. This is my year of British Prime Minister biographies, starting with this about the man who led the United Kingdom from 1964 - 1970, and 1974 - 76. I began this on Christmas day and its been a truly rewarding read; perhaps the best one I started in 2017. The writer comes from the center right of the Labour party and makes snooty references to the activist left and their unwillingness to take orders but the writing shines with an intelligent clarity and is honest enough in recounting the events of an era that is so instructive for the coming roaring twenties that I forgive all that. Wilson comes across, despite the book's arguments to the contrary, as a man without any real beliefs but his own ambition and faith in his own intelligence. He wanted to get some of that Kennedy shine on him, but he was from the basic opposite of Camelot. We spend a little too long on Wilson's early life and there's a noticable running out of steam for the last two years in office. That time in the late seventies leading up to the winter of discontent is fascinating and the cursory attention it gets here is the book's greatest flaw. However, this little project of mine is off to a great start.
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Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

7) Dubliners by James Joyce. Audiobook. Read by Jim Norton. I first read this about fifteen years ago and found it dreary homework. As I revisited it, its a living breathing, relevant slice of real life as it's still experienced. It helped that it was read so brilliantly and lyrically by Jim Norton, a man with a fine Dublin accent. Thank heavens I was deep into the Dead, the last story, before I made the connection between the reader and the part he played on Father Ted, Bishop Brennan.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


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eumaas
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by eumaas »

Silent Majority wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:27pm
7) Dubliners by James Joyce. Audiobook. Read by Jim Norton. I first read this about fifteen years ago and found it dreary homework. As I revisited it, its a living breathing, relevant slice of real life as it's still experienced. It helped that it was read so brilliantly and lyrically by Jim Norton, a man with a fine Dublin accent. Thank heavens I was deep into the Dead, the last story, before I made the connection between the reader and the part he played on Father Ted, Bishop Brennan.
Bishop Brennan's Californian home video is one of my favorite bits of TV.
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

Silent Majority
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Joined: 10 Nov 2008, 8:28pm
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

eumaas wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:31pm
Silent Majority wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:27pm
7) Dubliners by James Joyce. Audiobook. Read by Jim Norton. I first read this about fifteen years ago and found it dreary homework. As I revisited it, its a living breathing, relevant slice of real life as it's still experienced. It helped that it was read so brilliantly and lyrically by Jim Norton, a man with a fine Dublin accent. Thank heavens I was deep into the Dead, the last story, before I made the connection between the reader and the part he played on Father Ted, Bishop Brennan.
Bishop Brennan's Californian home video is one of my favorite bits of TV.
He was a great character. The American kid thing was based on the huge scandal that Bishop Casey was at the center of.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social- ... -1.3009016

Image
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

eumaas
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by eumaas »

Silent Majority wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:41pm
eumaas wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:31pm
Silent Majority wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:27pm
7) Dubliners by James Joyce. Audiobook. Read by Jim Norton. I first read this about fifteen years ago and found it dreary homework. As I revisited it, its a living breathing, relevant slice of real life as it's still experienced. It helped that it was read so brilliantly and lyrically by Jim Norton, a man with a fine Dublin accent. Thank heavens I was deep into the Dead, the last story, before I made the connection between the reader and the part he played on Father Ted, Bishop Brennan.
Bishop Brennan's Californian home video is one of my favorite bits of TV.
He was a great character. The American kid thing was based on the huge scandal that Bishop Casey was at the center of.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social- ... -1.3009016

Image
The first time I saw Father Ted I was amazed it got made at all.
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

Silent Majority
Singer-Songwriter Nancy
Posts: 18702
Joined: 10 Nov 2008, 8:28pm
Location: South Londoner in the Midlands.

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

eumaas wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:42pm
Silent Majority wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:41pm
eumaas wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:31pm
Silent Majority wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:27pm
7) Dubliners by James Joyce. Audiobook. Read by Jim Norton. I first read this about fifteen years ago and found it dreary homework. As I revisited it, its a living breathing, relevant slice of real life as it's still experienced. It helped that it was read so brilliantly and lyrically by Jim Norton, a man with a fine Dublin accent. Thank heavens I was deep into the Dead, the last story, before I made the connection between the reader and the part he played on Father Ted, Bishop Brennan.
Bishop Brennan's Californian home video is one of my favorite bits of TV.
He was a great character. The American kid thing was based on the huge scandal that Bishop Casey was at the center of.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social- ... -1.3009016

Image
The first time I saw Father Ted I was amazed it got made at all.
Irish TV would never have done it, I'm certain of that.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

Low Down Low
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Joined: 21 Aug 2014, 9:08am

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Low Down Low »

Silent Majority wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:44pm
eumaas wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:42pm
Silent Majority wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:41pm
eumaas wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:31pm
Silent Majority wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:27pm
7) Dubliners by James Joyce. Audiobook. Read by Jim Norton. I first read this about fifteen years ago and found it dreary homework. As I revisited it, its a living breathing, relevant slice of real life as it's still experienced. It helped that it was read so brilliantly and lyrically by Jim Norton, a man with a fine Dublin accent. Thank heavens I was deep into the Dead, the last story, before I made the connection between the reader and the part he played on Father Ted, Bishop Brennan.
Bishop Brennan's Californian home video is one of my favorite bits of TV.
He was a great character. The American kid thing was based on the huge scandal that Bishop Casey was at the center of.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social- ... -1.3009016

Image
The first time I saw Father Ted I was amazed it got made at all.
Irish TV would never have done it, I'm certain of that.
And still wouldn’t to this day. Any decent Irish comedy is always picked up by Channel 4 in the UK. There’s also Mrs Brown on the beeb but we won’t go there. Pretty sad state of affairs for a nation that produced the likes of Swift, Wilde and Flann O’Brien.

Silent Majority
Singer-Songwriter Nancy
Posts: 18702
Joined: 10 Nov 2008, 8:28pm
Location: South Londoner in the Midlands.

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Low Down Low wrote:
01 Feb 2018, 6:26am
Silent Majority wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:44pm
eumaas wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:42pm
Silent Majority wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:41pm
eumaas wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:31pm

Bishop Brennan's Californian home video is one of my favorite bits of TV.
He was a great character. The American kid thing was based on the huge scandal that Bishop Casey was at the center of.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social- ... -1.3009016

Image
The first time I saw Father Ted I was amazed it got made at all.
Irish TV would never have done it, I'm certain of that.
And still wouldn’t to this day. Any decent Irish comedy is always picked up by Channel 4 in the UK. There’s also Mrs Brown on the beeb but we won’t go there. Pretty sad state of affairs for a nation that produced the likes of Swift, Wilde and Flann O’Brien.
I'm getting a lot of laughs from Derry Girls on Ch 4 at the moment
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

Low Down Low
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 4922
Joined: 21 Aug 2014, 9:08am

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Low Down Low »

Silent Majority wrote:
01 Feb 2018, 9:54am
Low Down Low wrote:
01 Feb 2018, 6:26am
Silent Majority wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:44pm
eumaas wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:42pm
Silent Majority wrote:
31 Jan 2018, 6:41pm


He was a great character. The American kid thing was based on the huge scandal that Bishop Casey was at the center of.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social- ... -1.3009016

Image
The first time I saw Father Ted I was amazed it got made at all.
Irish TV would never have done it, I'm certain of that.
And still wouldn’t to this day. Any decent Irish comedy is always picked up by Channel 4 in the UK. There’s also Mrs Brown on the beeb but we won’t go there. Pretty sad state of affairs for a nation that produced the likes of Swift, Wilde and Flann O’Brien.
I'm getting a lot of laughs from Derry Girls on Ch 4 at the moment
It is rather decent and was delighted to see Kevin McAleer cameo in last weeks episode. Used to love his comic monologues back in the day.

Silent Majority
Singer-Songwriter Nancy
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Joined: 10 Nov 2008, 8:28pm
Location: South Londoner in the Midlands.

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

8) Our Man In Havana - Graham Greene. I started out disliking the novel for the first fifth, realised it was supposed to be funny, liked it more, then liked it less. A vacuum cleaner salesman in Batista's Cuba who sends back fake reports to the British Secret Service is a situation ripe for situational comedy but Greene is ultimately too heavy hearted to make it anything but sad and ringed with the pointlessness of human artifice. The main character should read as a typical Hugh Grant role but he seems to be filled with unspoken secret sins. Good writer, of course, if a little light on location based atmosphere.

9) Chaucer's People: Everyday Lives In Medieval England - Liza Picard. Audiobook. Informative, well read, and admirable for its scope, I found it a touch too dry at times, with a focus which wandered when it shouldn't have and talked about fishing nets for pages when it should.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

Silent Majority
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Posts: 18702
Joined: 10 Nov 2008, 8:28pm
Location: South Londoner in the Midlands.

Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

I feel like my continuing to number my books here looks obnoxious. I'll keep the count going elsewhere

The Great Dan - Charles Treverix Trench. A book about the 19th century Liberator of Ireland and man who achieved Catholic Emancipation, Daniel O'Connell. Lots of fun meaty details about a larger than life lawyer with the pretensions of a feudal lord. He doesn't come off too well in terms of his politics, but I respect his choice to agitate peacefully. The book is a little too close to a Victorian point of view at times. Written in the early eighties, there's a reference to "Harmless Rape" which came close to driving me to throwing the book on the fire like Homer Simpson did with the Lottery by Shirley Jackson.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Bedtime book:
Image
Depressed by the bleakness of 1984 (and discomforted by his harsh depiction of the masses), I'm reading something lighter and breezier. And, sadly, timely.

Biking audiobook:
Image
I picked this because it's short and I liked his earlier book set during the Boston police strike after WWI. Anyway, contemporary Boston, organized crime, Sully, the Church, yada yada. Not really my thing, but not awful by any means.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Audio:
Image
I've only read scattered, short accounts of My Lai, but the event and its meaning has become something of a touchstone in my attitude towards historical work. That is, historians like everyone else must realize that they are moral actors and shying away from that fact cheapens their work and reduces its social significance.

Research:
Image
Closer and closer I step toward Knowlesland. :twitch:
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

eumaas
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by eumaas »

A little light reading now that I am not shackled to a syllabus.

The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien (I think Wolter's the only other Tolkien fan on here) & Introduction to Metaphysics by Martin Heidegger.

I have loads of other things to read, including friends' dissertations and books given to me over the past year, but I need to clear my head first and also learn to read properly again. After several semesters my brain has become locked into "reading for school" mode, where I go too quickly and just try to glean the most relevant material. Not the most enjoyable way to read. These two are old favorites that will slow me down a little.
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

eumaas wrote:
18 Feb 2018, 2:03pm
I need to clear my head first and also learn to read properly again. After several semesters my brain has become locked into "reading for school" mode, where I go too quickly and just try to glean the most relevant material. Not the most enjoyable way to read. These two are old favorites that will slow me down a little.
This is very real. After I dropped out of school in Iowa, my reading became entirely by choice and with much more variety. And it was a learning experience to slow the pace and appreciate the details and gloss, and to read without purpose of edification but instead satisfaction.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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