With all this unemployment one advantage has been plenty of time to read. Some of the more noteworthy stuff Ive trawled through recently:
‘A Serpent In Eden’ by James Owen: Very interesting account of the murder-mystery of milionaire Sir Harry Oakes in the 1940s in the Bahamas. Lots of twists and well written. Recommended for anyone with an interest in murder-mystery’s and/or law.
‘Breaking The Spell’ by Daniel Dennett: Excellent book on the nature of religion and theistic belief. This is probably the most ammenable and coherent of the recent books on atheism. Would highly recommend this, especially as an accompaniment to Dawkins’ ‘The God Delusion’. If after reading these 2 books if one still believes in a god (especially a Judeo-Christian or Muslim god) one is beyond help!
‘Crashed and Byrned’ by Tommy Byrne and Mark Hughes: Funny account of Irish racing driver Tommy Byrne who came from small time Irish obscurity to F1 in a just a few years but kept fecking up and getting fecked around blowing his chances at the big time. Now teaches driving in Ohio. Short and to the point. Well worth the read.
‘The Portable Atheist’ edited by Christopher Hitchens: Collection of essays on the topic. Some excellent ones by Carl Sagan, Bertrand Russell and Salman Rushdie.
‘Hellraisers’ by Robert Sellers: Tales of the famous wild actors; Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Ollie Reed and Peter O’Toole. Some funny stories, though often exaggerated methinks, eg. I doubt Ollie Reed consumed 126 pints in 24 hours. The writer is a bit of a dick but he finished the book well. Todays “bad boys” are the lamest form of lame compared to these dudes.
Currently getting around to reading Jon Lee Anderson’s biog on Che Guevara, quite good so far.
Oh and how could I forget! Also read Bret Hart’s autobiography ‘My real life in the cartoon world of wrestling’. A long but enjoyable read. My mate who’s a wrestler was on tour with Bret there a few months ago in Europe and said he was bang on. Good to hear a guy who’s often renowned as the best wrestler ever is also a decent guy.
An American Recon Patrol in the Ardennes during WW2 befriends a group of German soldiers. It’s reads a bit like “Catch 22” but the subject matter is much more serious.
Some start trek book. Part of a trilogy. Read the Shatner ahem Kirk book. Was loosely based on what was happening during the movie with Soren. I think it was called Nemesis. I was bored and it was there and I had 11 hours of work to kill, so…
Lewis Carroll - Alice In Wonderland/Alice Through The Looking Glass (Still Reading)
That’s all the books that I have read or are currently reading. I sit up here doing nothing for hours and hours so all I really wind up doing is surfing the Net, playing guitar and reading books. Eh, it could be worse. I could actually have to work for a living, LOL.
‘The Portable Atheist’ edited by Christopher Hitchens:
[mad]Blech! That guy is such a jack ass! I would never buy anything with his name on it!
Bobby Henderson’s “Gospel Of The Flying Spaghetti Monster”
Genius! I’m sure you’ve been to the web site with all of the hatemail from the “wholesome, love, everybody” Christians
Currently reading Mr. B Gone by clive barker, so far it’s pretty slow, which is unexpected, considering it’s written from a demon’s perspective!
Late,
grmpysmrf
“The Incredible Shrinking Man” by Richard Matheson
“Fragile Things” and “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman
“Stuff White People Like: The Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions” by Christian Landers
“The Mote in God’s Eye” by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven
At the momment I’m reading the last Saul Williams book he released “Dead Emcee Scrolls”.
I don’t know if there is going to be a show near you, but he’s playing a show that goes on sale friday with Les claypool, secret chiefs 3 in NYC in march
From The Bottom Of The Heap-The Autobiography of Black Panther Robert Hillary King.
a little light reading, he’s one of the so-called “Angola 3”, locked up for three decades for a crime he didn’t commit. otherwise…
The Dictionary of Diseased English–Kenneth Hudson.
biographies and autobiographies, mostly. i maintain an ugly fascination with other people’s “careers”: gloria vanderbilt, fellini, roman polanski, edie sedgwick, liberace.
damn! i love liberace…
biographies and autobiographies, mostly. i maintain an ugly fascination with other people’s “careers”: gloria vanderbilt, fellini, roman polanski, edie sedgwick, liberace.
damn! i love liberace…
Is it a biog of Fellini you’ve been reading?
I want to get a biography on the man. Was considering ‘Federico Fellini: His lIfe and Work’ by Kezich. Sounds like its the best.
Currently reading Mr. B Gone by clive barker, so far it’s pretty slow, which is unexpected, considering it’s written from a demon’s perspective!
Late,
grmpysmrf
Cool did not know he had a new one out, I’ve been a Clive Barker reader since the Books of Blood era. As of late he has seemed to have lost some of his bite, but I enjoy his fantasy stuff just as much as his horror. Still waiting on the novel he’s working on where Pinhead meets Harry (Lord of Illusions) D’Amour.
Currently reading The Dark Descent, an omnibus of horror short stories. This one covers a lot of ground from early writers such as Poe, Lovecraft and Le Fanu to genre greats like Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, and Barker. (Who knew that Ambrose Bierce wrote a story somewhat anticipating the movie Predator over a century ago?)
[reply]Currently reading Mr. B Gone by clive barker, so far it’s pretty slow, which is unexpected, considering it’s written from a demon’s perspective!
Late,
grmpysmrf
Cool did not know he had a new one out, I’ve been a Clive Barker reader since the Books of Blood era. As of late he has seemed to have lost some of his bite, but I enjoy his fantasy stuff just as much as his horror. Still waiting on the novel he’s working on where Pinhead meets Harry (Lord of Illusions) D’Amour.
Currently reading The Dark Descent, an omnibus of horror short stories. This one covers a lot of ground from early writers such as Poe, Lovecraft and Le Fanu to genre greats like Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, and Barker. (Who knew that Ambrose Bierce wrote a story somewhat anticipating the movie Predator over a century ago?)[/reply]
i’ve actually got a signed copy of the hardback of mr. b gone (from my g/f on my last birthday) but i haven’t got around to reading it yet - not the sort of thing you want to take on the bus every day. imagica is his best book btw. currently i’m readin gloads of terry pratchet books as i’ve discovered this cool little second hand book stall near my g/f’s house that does them cheap. these i can read on the bus.
chemical, it was published in '07. I’ve bought my wife a few clive books for Christmas. She’s really into Pinhead, I was trying to find the hellbound heart in hard back, but I couldn’t, so I got her the books of blood vol. 1 in hard back and mister B gone so far she is digging it. She hasn’t started Mister B gone yet. A new Pinhead book would be a cool thing especially since Hellraiser III and beyond are pretty dismal.
Collapse, that’s pretty cool about the autograph. Is Imagica horror or fantasy.
Late,
grmpysmrf
i’ve actually got a signed copy of the hardback of mr. b gone (from my g/f on my last birthday) but i haven’t got around to reading it yet - not the sort of thing you want to take on the bus every day. imagica is his best book btw. currently i’m readin gloads of terry pratchet books as i’ve discovered this cool little second hand book stall near my g/f’s house that does them cheap. these i can read on the bus.
Imagica is my favorite too [:)]
Ahh Terry Pratchett I got a some books signed by him at a convention about 13 years ago, nice fellow and one of my favorite authors. I haven’t read the last two Discworld books yet, but I highly recommend him to anyone who likes humorous parodies in the vein of Douglas Adams.