Best books you've read all year

A little different from the other 'best of' lists currently dotting the Internet, I thought I'd do this one to see what literary pursuits everyone was...pursueing. Here's mine (show me yours):

1. England's Dreaming (Jon Savage)-Quite possibly the best book I've ever read on popular musical forms. A must-read for any punk fans here
2. Rotten (John Lydon)- same topic, but from a partcipant. Couldn't put it down.
3. Moon (Tony Fletcher)- Probably the most honest rock bio out there.
4. Exit Music: The Radiohead Story (Mac Randall)- covers everything up to 1999.
5. Ideal For Living (Mark Johnson)- A friend of mine had an extra copy, and I can't thank her enough.
6. Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Story (Nicholas Schaffner)
7. Gravity's Rainbow (Thomas Pynchon)- Not sure I understand it, but well worth the cost of admission.
8. Goodbye to All That (Robert Graves)

books???? reading???? No serious, let me think .....this year's T.V.guide was rather good but a bit hard to figure out... then again it beats the Phonebook!!Not to mention the Yellow Pages! No really serious now: as a warming up on soon to be released Lord of the Rings, i decided to read it once more and i must say it is FABULOUS. Also i can recommend one of Hollands best ever authors: Nescio writer of Titaantjes, Den Uitvreter.There must be a proper dutch translation.

I admit, it's a bit of a queer topic...but still, if you post on this site you must be able to read, so even a McDonald's menu would do (ah, "Big Mac". Delicious!)

Reading.....ahhh...one of my favorite time wasters.

Anyway, I just finished reading "Hell To Pay", a biography on (C)Hillary Clinton. What a Marxist freak she is. She makes Uncle Joe look like a junk bond broker.

For light reading, I get Road & Track and Maxim at the house.

Also the little packets of ketchup (it's always good to know those things)

Only one I have cared for that is new is:

The New Sins by David Byrne.

Sidenote, I heard he read last nite and it was fantastic and he signed my copy too. Yea, Talking Heads!!! I have finally met every member of the band.

Joe

...unfortunately i don't have any patience to read...so the only book i've read the last few years was the book from Deborah Curtis about Ian & Joy Division...

I can't read and I can't write But that don't really matter Cos I come down from Worcester town And I can drive a tractor !

Ooo ar Ooo ar Ooo ar ooo aar ooo ar I come down from Worcester town And I can drive a tractor !

:)

My tractor thinks I'm sexy...or is it my tractor is sexy? Shitty song nonetheless....

I re-read Touching earlier this year, but I've had it since 1998, so it doesn't count...

Originally posted by Joe Schalk Only one I have cared for that is new is:The New Sins by David Byrne.Sidenote, I heard he read last nite and it was fantastic and he signed my copy too. Yea, Talking Heads!!! I have finally met every member of the band.Joe

I see that the Heads have made the RnR Hall of Fame, for whatever that dubious honor is worth. Wonder if they'll get together to play just one more time?

As far as books, I don't read as much as I used to, so here's what I've read over the past year or so, in no order:

1. Island of Lost Maps, by Miles Harvey. True story of the lucrative business of dealing with stolen antique maps.

2. People Funny Boy, by Dave Katz. Bio of Lee 'Scratch' Perry, definitely one of the maddest music makers ever.

3. Simpsons episode guides, 2 books. Lyrics to songs, bits of memorable dialog, bio sketches of the characters as well as "stuff you might have missed" in episodes by laughing too hard.

4. The Graves Are Not Full, by Bill Berkely. About recent ethnic violence in Africa, which leads me into a rant. Didn't think anyone could touch bin Laden and his gang for contempt, but the situation in South Africa is sickening to read about. Don't really want to disturb anybody here, but go to CNN.com and check it out. What was the provacative title of that Microdisney album? Oh yeah, "We Hate You South African Bastards" Anybody who came to do that to mine or anybody I know would pay dearly.

:headoff: :headoff: :headoff: :headoff: :headoff: :headoff:

BTW, Taboo, agree with your assessment of England's Dreaming

Did you know that it took me twenty three years and seven months to begin and finish the book "Alfred Hitchcock - Stories Not For The Nervous, Volume 1".? No? Well you do now.

It took me over a year but I just finished a book called "Stiffed" by Susan Faludi. She apparently wrote some wonderful scathing book about how men are pigs. I skipped that one :) This book talks about United States culture and now men are shaped by it. It goes from post WWII to present day. In present day society there is so much blame and hatred geared towards white men that it is nice to hear someone speak up for us (sort of). I'm tired of hearing how it's my fault the world is so fucked up and how I'm so lucky. While Faludi doesn't make excuses or take us off the hook, she does describe (pretty convincingly) how white males have been shaped by society. As I said, it took me forever to read but well worth it.

I'll tell you all someting now. If I see another cunt reading a Harry Potter book on the Tube, there is going to be trouble. No messing.

Talking about Tolkien's Lord without Wings made me remember a brilliant album! Do you know by any chance Bo Hansson's Lord of the Rings? An absolutely fabulous record...when under the influence of certainb substances even better. Wouldn't surprise me if the great Martin is aware of this i think early seventies classic.

Originally posted by Quentin Tarantula I'll tell you all someting now. If I see another cunt reading a Harry Potter book on the Tube, there is going to be trouble. No messing.

Why? Whaddaya ganna du, Hard Man? Go all Mark E Smith on 'em???

Originally posted by Mario Herlaar Talking about Tolkien's Lord without Wings made me remember a brilliant album!Do you know by any chance Bo Hansson's Lord of the Rings?An absolutely fabulous record...when under the influence of certainb substances even better.Wouldn't surprise me if the great Martin is aware of this i think early seventies classic.

Oh yes. I do - it was rammed down my throat when I was a sixth-form pupil at secondary school: a lot of my classmates were into this kind of prog-culture. It's not my kind of thing really, Mario, but these school mates of mine at the time adored all this : they loved music by the likes of Genesis (pre-Phil Collins, natch), Pink Floyd, Yes, King Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Rush, Jethro Tull, and Dire Straits to name but a few shameful examples.

Jeff Wayne's soundtrack to War Of The Worlds was another classic that they lived and breathed obsessively. Not forgetting the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy and plenty of George Orwell au naturellement......

Here's a funny thing: you remember Jaap Egermont and Michael Duiser's "Stars On 45/Starsound" project of the early 80's yeah? They did an instrumental medley, as well as the Abba and Beatles ones. Now, featured on this instrumental one was a quick snatch of the "Theme From War Of The Worlds" - funny to relate, all those aforementioned sixth form classmates, who HATED any current musical trends simply cos they were such élitist retrograde snobs, actually loved this section of "Stars On 45" and could be seen jiving around the classroom pathetically whenever that bit came on the radio - it made me laugh and cringe anyway.!!

By the way - why haven't you checked out my thread "HEROES AND VILLAINS" that I finally managed to post very very late last night after a terrible exhausting 16-hour day stuck at work in my office?? Everybody seems to be ignoring it - This isn't very good is it?? I implore you to add your contribution, please. Thank you my friend. Ik ga maar eens......Tot straks!

Just did what you wanted Martin. I'm half dead through lack of sleep,still i must work this saturday. God when i finish at 1700 i peddle home,roll a big one and curl up in my bed.....must be ghetting old? About the Pink Floyd:i really like that stuff as well as the early Genesis. Strange , at the moment i am lstening to Sabotage(finally got my copy today), and all i can think of is Ultravox and Italopop? Must be losing my mind.

Douglas Coupland "Generation X" Haruki Murakami "A Wild Sheep Chase" Albert Hofmann "LSD - My Problem Child" Victor Pelevin "The Clay Machine-Gun" and collected stories by Thomas Mann.

Jon Ronson - Secret Rulers of the World Touching from a distance Tony Benn's political diaries 253 Regeneration - Pat Barker Battle Cry of Freedom - James Macpherson Stephen Fry - Moab is my washpot

These are the ones that stand out for me - and whispering quietly all of the Harry Potter books which are actually very good)

my profession as a librarian plops me right in the middle of books, but i work in a law library, so i'm surrounded by legalese all the time ;)

however, the last month or so i've been slugging through a massive history of NYC to 1898 called Gotham. Exhausting work, over 1,200 pages total.

After that, my next one will be The Burning of Washington, the British Invasion of 1814 (and we ain't talking music either)

Also enjoy throughbred racing, so try to read in that area also...anybody live near one of your fine European tracks???

Originally posted by Martian Gray > Originally posted by Quentin Tarantula> I'll tell you all someting now. If I see another cunt reading a Harry Potter book on the Tube, there is going to be trouble. No messing.

Why? Whaddaya ganna du, Hard Man? Go all Mark E Smith on 'em???

Yep ! All this Harry Potter hype is pissing me off big style.

Originally posted by Socrates El Orificio Ectoplasm I'll tell you all someting now. If I see another cunt reading a Harry Potter book on the Tube, there is going to be trouble. No messing.

                               :clap:

I've read the Jon Ronson as well and thought it was very good. Also liked Servants of the People by Andrew Rawnsley and Shopgirl by Steve Martin

I just take "Fight the Power" by Chuck D with me on the Tube every morning. Never actually read it, usually scan the carriage for totty instead :)

1, Manchester, England (Dave Haslam) Very good. 2, Human Punk (John King) Not bad. 3, Sick Puppy, Stormy Weather, Native Tongue, Tourist Season (Carl Hiasen) Excellent!