What are you reading?

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 1:21 pm

ouch!

actually, I'm reading it because I'm fantastically interested in Todd Rundgren.

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 2:45 pm

MS - So you don't care how great a shag Elvis is?

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 3:13 pm

that's between me and my pillow!

actually I did have a dream in which I had him in my bed, only he was having none of it no matter how hard I tried...But he was the nicest man to talk to--guess that's his place in my five. I didn't want to wake up, you know?

SweetPear · Post by **SweetPear** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 6:38 pm

Ouch is right, Plaything!

The only Elvis fans who would read Buell's book are those who are only interested in how great a shag he was (I'm talking about the ladee fans here, the men, I don't know). From what I've heard and read, that and the fact that she still loves him, is all she talks about. I don't think I'd ever buy it....I'd feel.....well grubby, like![/quote]

But since I read it and you didn't, then I guess I know how good he was and you don't!

(Boy, do I wish I was saying that out of actual experience instead of reading about it in that little tart's memoirs)

Seriously though, the book was awful and I can't believe that I put money in her pocket. It was a terrible read! I was weak and I let my curiosity get the better of me.
It was just so incredibly unbelievable that someone could so blatantly boast about all the "relationships" she's had. I mean the sheer number alone was unbelievable but the[/i]wayshe spoke about herself!
Truth though....I really didn't know who Bebe Buell was until I happened to catch the goings on on the Island EC site, so that's really what sparked my curiosity. So I read all the Elvis parts, gathered my information and then promptly dumped that trash right where it belonged...in my fireplace.

I didn't know all that abortion stuff and all that muse crap...anyway, enough time wasted on the life of Ms. Bebe Buell.

See what this uncontrollable obsession has done to me??

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 6:42 pm

It's okay, Sweet Pear. Too bad it couldn't have been a good book. But you know what they say about someone who kisses and tells.

But with someone like her you never really know if you're getting the "real" story. Most likely not. We ladies can just use our own imagination about Elvis.

SweetPear · Post by **SweetPear** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 6:45 pm

Okay, somebody please help me! All you have to do is look at my last post to see what a total technophobe I am. And I'm not stupid! (Yeah, yeah...)

I obviously haven't got how to use the quotes or the ITALICS (which I didn't mean for half the post to be in italics, but I didn't want to start over so...)
What am I not getting?

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 6:48 pm

Sweet Pear - Try this. Go into the message you want to quote. Click and highlight what you want to quote and then click on the little quote button in the upper right corner of the message box. Let me know if it doesn't work for you.

girl out of time · Post by **girl out of time** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 11:37 pm

most recently......virginia woolf´s essays.....and Stefan Zweig´s Calidoscope

idle hands · Post by **idle hands** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 8:09 am

I just started today Ian McEwan's The Cement Garden
and also bought yesterday Joyce's Dubliners

taz · Post by **taz** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 8:11 am

Just finishing up "Risk Pool" by Richard Russo...equal parts humor and depressing.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 8:21 am

idle hands wrote:
miss buenos aires wrote:I just finally finished "Swann's Way"
How long did it take? I've been reading that for months and I'm not past page 100... some other books got in the way, like Jorge Luis Borges complete works Vols I II and III. Books are soo cheap in Buenos Aires.

It took me about a week. But I've got about 50 more books to read before September, so I can't luxuriate in Proust's marvelous, sensual prose. You might want to skip ahead to "Swann in Love," it's one of the most beautiful, true things I've ever read.

The last thing I read today was "La Farce de Maître Pierre Pathelin." It's actually pretty funny, considering it was written 800 years ago.

IStandAccused · Post by **IStandAccused** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 9:45 am

~~I'm reading Charles Bukowski's- "Notes Of A Dirty Old Man". It is an old book published in 1969 and re-published in 1973.

taz wrote:Just finishing up "Risk Pool" by Richard Russo...equal parts humor and depressing.

ice nine · Post by **ice nine** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 1:20 pm

I'm halfway through IBM and the Holocaust:The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation by Edwin Black

Mr. Black states that IBM made alot of money during the 30's and 40's from Nazi Germany and all throughout Europe. The Nazis used IBM's punchcard system that preceded the computer to identify the Jews. Since IBM did not sell the machines, but merely leased them out to the Nazis IBM had a large vested interest in Nazi Germany

Makes me glad I use a Mac

shabbydoll · Post by **shabbydoll** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 5:35 pm

Sounds hardly shocking, but fascinating just the same. My brother did a science fair project (please refer to The Simpsons if unsure of what that is) for me about basic computer punch card theory. He built a lovely little box and when you put nails in the holes on the top what you put in binary code dropped out the proper card. He only asked that I understood it. It won 2nd prize. Funny how I was always steered towards computers, but never wanted to get involved. I hate middle-age sometimes, reflection comes far too easily. I digress, I have hidden a guilty secret, I am also reading Amsterdam, by for-the-life-of-me-I-can't-remember. It immediately reminded me of Margaret Atwood's Blind Assassin, though I believe Amsterdam is earlier, a Booker Prize winner in '98, I think. I've gone back to Potter3, and yes, the sameness is starting to wear.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 5:42 pm

I believe Ian McEwan is the author of Amsterdam.

shabbydoll · Post by **shabbydoll** » Fri Jun 13, 2003 2:30 am

Thanks, SL, that's him. Anybody else read it?

Goody2Shoes · Post by **Goody2Shoes** » Fri Jun 13, 2003 10:03 am

I'm reading Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand, which I thought was gonna be crap, but it's surprisingly engaging. I didn't know this when I started it, but it's the subject of a movie coming out soon.

Regarding Potter, I have an almost-8-year-old, so we are drowning in all things Potter. I like that my daughter likes them so much; she can read them by herself, but she prefers to have one of us read with her.

As for the baby, I think I might die if I have to read Clifford the Firehouse Dog again.

costellopunk · Post by **costellopunk** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 6:38 pm

hey istandaccused,
i read that about two years ago. i still re-read it on occasion. hilarious, dirty, adn sometimes a little life affirminmg. thus is bukowski. i've become a bigger and bigger fan of buk over the past year. i even got a tatoo on my arm of a broken glass heart dripping water on fire that says: "burning in water drowning in flame". which is one of his best poetry compliations. i'm also thinking of naming this band i seem to in south of no north in honor of him.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 6:58 pm

I love hearing about Proust's insane life and his cork-lined room. Truly eccentric. Would love to be able to read him in French.

Idle hands: good on you, those are two very different but very wonderful books. Joyce is my absolute literary hero, and Dubliners is my favourite collection of short stories by a mile. And The Cement Garden is just fabulous. Haven't read Amsterdam, largely out of protest at the dumb Booker prize for awarding it to what was so obviously a minor work of his. Want to read Enduring Love, meant to be good. Recommend Atonement to anyone with an interest in Ian McEwan - a great read, and so engaging.

King of Confidence · Post by **King of Confidence** » Sun Jun 15, 2003 12:14 am

Atonement is up there on my list of to-be-read. Right now it'd be great just to finish a book, any book. I can't remember the sensation of completing the last page of anything.

Bogged down in or chewing on:

Guns, Germs and Steel
Annals of the Former World
A Short History of American Law

That last one is the likeliest to be finished anytime soon. It's short, see. I do need some good fiction, it would appear.

IStandAccused · Post by **IStandAccused** » Sun Jun 15, 2003 6:50 pm

costellopunk wrote:hey istandaccused,
i read that about two years ago. i still re-read it on occasion. hilarious, dirty, adn sometimes a little life affirminmg. thus is bukowski. i've become a bigger and bigger fan of buk over the past year. i even got a tatoo on my arm of a broken glass heart dripping water on fire that says: "burning in water drowning in flame". which is one of his best poetry compliations. i'm also thinking of naming this band i seem to in south of no north in honor of him.

~~I have that exact quote above my bed. It is wonderful to share the joys of Bukowski with another. First time we have ever agreed on anything, lol. I adore you, CPunk!

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Sun Jun 15, 2003 7:03 pm

Just got back from vacation - read a couple of books on the beach -

William McBrien's biography of Cole Porter - somebody on the last board recommended this - I forget who - thanks, it was great - almost the complete opposite of another favorite musical bio - "Woody Guthrie" by Joe Klein.

Anthony Bourdain's, "Kitchen Confidential" - A self described punk snob on the world of New York restaurant kitchens. He's arrogant and brimming with testosterone but the book was a great read.

Picked up Carl Hiaasen's, "Basket Case" for the plane ride home. It's proving to be a quick read, but he loses credibility early on having the fictitous band The Slut Puppies winning a Grammy. C'mon !!

HungupStrungup · Post by **HungupStrungup** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 10:33 am

Boy With A Problem wrote:Picked up Carl Hiaasen's, "Basket Case" for the plane ride home. It's proving to be a quick read, but he loses credibility early on having the fictitous band The Slut Puppies winning a Grammy. C'mon !!

With Hiaasen, you have to suspend disbelief, and in my estimation you will be amply rewarded. In one of his early novels, Double Whammy I think, a mob enforcer type loses his arm below the elbow. The doctor is going to fit him with a prosthesis and asks if he'd prefer a hook. The thug has a brainstorm and has the doctor outfit him with a weed whacker instead. One of his recurring characters is a former Florida governor who lives in the swamps and exists mostly on a diet of roadkill stew; and he's saner than most of the Floridians who populate Hiaasen's books. I grew up down there, so I can say he might not be too far wrong.

mood swung, you must get back to Catch-22 at the earliest opportunity. I'm due to reread it myself soon.

I picked up Ann Coulter's Slander at the library. I was actually looking for her current best-seller Treason, but there were no copies available. I made it through the first third and just couldn't stand anymore. It may pay to know what the loonies think, and even more what they think the public will swallow, but what I don't know about Ms. Coulter's views I'm just going to have to pick up via osmosis. Her prose truly makes me seethe.

What I'm reading at the moment is John Sandford's Mortal Prey, an excellent crime novel. I have a recent Lawrence Block novel awaiting my attention, and after that one by Mike Lupica.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 10:57 am

Now reading Douglas Adams' Salmon Of Doubt, which has some very funny parts to it. Have built up a backlog of about twenty books on my 'to read' pile so have plenty of choice next.

HS - I recently read Double Whammy, and the weed whacker bit is v.funny.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Thu Jul 31, 2003 12:42 pm

I'm reading Salt by Mark Kurlansky. It's a world history based around the commodity of salt. It's fascinating how many of our common words are salt-related. A sampling:

salary (people were paid in salt)
soldier (from the French for salt, "solde")
salad (salted greens)
salami (from the Latin "to salt")

and on and on.

Elvis Costello Fan Forum

What are you reading?

....

Reading material

book shopping this weekend I think