Author Topic: Mike's Book Club  (Read 16511 times)

mnstrfrc

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Re: Mike's Book Club
« Reply #30 on: May 04, 2017, 10:33:16 PM »
The Map and the Territory is a funny book. I'm about half way through it. Juxtaposing pictures of maps and the territories represented is something my wife and I did many years ago. We should have fucking exhibited that! One example is my twitter profile pics. Unlike Jed Martin, I more often found the map less interesting . . .

Can someone get their hands on Bebe's book and make that the next selection?

Spalding

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Re: Mike's Book Club
« Reply #31 on: May 10, 2017, 01:37:45 PM »
I might have missed it, but what's your take on Born to Run Mike? Currently reading it and I'm up to when he becomes famous around the "Born to Run" album. Lots of "power of rock and roll" talk and lots of exclamation points. Not as revealing as I had thought it would be, given the interviews I heard last year. My favorite part so far is his description of the gig circuit he worked with his high school bands (the "rah" gigs vs. "greaser" gigs).

B_Buster

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Re: Mike's Book Club
« Reply #32 on: May 15, 2017, 07:22:50 PM »
I didn't find Born to Run particularly revealing. The only revelation for me was that Springsteen has suffered from depression and anxiety over the years. I found the straight forward bio, Bruce, much more interesting.
See God, Kai

mnstrfrc

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Re: Mike's Book Club
« Reply #33 on: June 17, 2017, 10:55:28 PM »
I finished Houellebecq a couple weeks ago. Trying to find the time to sit down and write something about it. It's a book that seemed to be about the art world and one particular peculiar character in it, but the major theme turned out to be death and different ways to die in the modern world. That's what I got out of it anyway. Houellebecq's caricature of himself was amusing in all aspects and killing himself off in a spectacularly horrific fashion was the kicker.

B_Buster

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Re: Mike's Book Club
« Reply #34 on: June 19, 2017, 08:27:06 PM »
I enjoyed The Map and the Territory very much. The crime story that appears in the last section was a complete surprise.

Currently reading:

The Rat on Fire/George V. Higgins
Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963/Taylor Branch
See God, Kai

Kurz

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Re: Mike's Book Club
« Reply #35 on: June 25, 2017, 10:02:57 AM »
I didn't find Born to Run particularly revealing. The only revelation for me was that Springsteen has suffered from depression and anxiety over the years. I found the straight forward bio, Bruce, much more interesting.
What makes that one more interesting? I haven't read either yet, but I've the auto one on the shelf.

B_Buster

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Re: Mike's Book Club
« Reply #36 on: June 25, 2017, 10:15:12 AM »
I didn't find Born to Run particularly revealing. The only revelation for me was that Springsteen has suffered from depression and anxiety over the years. I found the straight forward bio, Bruce, much more interesting.
What makes that one more interesting? I haven't read either yet, but I've the auto one on the shelf.

You get to hear from the guys in the band when things weren't so great in the E Street Band. In other words, a little more balanced.
See God, Kai

mnstrfrc

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Re: Mike's Book Club
« Reply #37 on: July 22, 2017, 11:21:24 PM »
Just finished reading V.. Gonna start on Rat on Fire.

mnstrfrc

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Re: Mike's Book Club
« Reply #38 on: August 14, 2017, 11:22:59 PM »
Read Rat on Fire. It was pretty good. I'd never come across a book that is 99% dialogue like that. It's an interesting style choice that I might explore further. The problem I had with this book though is that there was little flavor to the language. Maybe the reader is supposed to supply the flavor, which is what I did by making the characters into actors I'm familiar with like the main arsonist was Big Pussy from the Sopranos and the fire marshall was Caputo from Orange is the New Black. The head detective I never got a voice for and I wasn't really buying him anyway. It's quite a bit of dialogue so it makes sense that it's not all top notch, but there are some very flabby speeches in this book. Also, if someone told me George V. Higgins was super racist, I would be like, "Oh yeah, I could tell from that book of his I read."