Picked up a cheap copy of Lance Armstrongs auto-biog "It's Not About The Bike" in a chartity shop yesterday.

Seeing as the Tour De France is in full swing, I thought I'd get an insight into this incredible man..

I read Spy Who etc very recently. For the 1st time. Very good, although I still believe Len Deighton to be of a similar persuasion but infinitely superior. On saying that I certainly plan to read more of Le Carre.

I'm reading Seeing by José Saramago. Very good, although probably not as good as Blindness, which was his previous novel and is superb.

Yes, derm, your mention of Miller the other day got me thinking about revisiting some of his stuff.

Winter, for me, always brings on a compulsion to read poetry, for some reason. I'm thinking of re-reading Berryman's Dream Songs.

Aside from the magazines I read, and the reading I do for work (scientific reports), it seems I mostly re-read. Nabokov said the best reading was re-reading, or something like that.

Last edited by Chipper (2016-11-27 18:05:34)

The current pile I'm munching through...

'Last Night A DJ Saved... The History of the DJ' by Brewster and Broughton.
'The Ballroom' by Anna Hope.
'Sinister Resonance: The Mediumship of the Listener' by David Toop.
'Intoxication: An anthology of stimulant-based writing' edit by Toni Davidson
'Drown' by Junot Diaz
and still sitting in it's wrapper Alan Moore's 'Jerusalem' all 1280 pages of hallucinogenic madness.

With Le Carre , if your a fan of the Smiley stories do them in order of publication but the rest of his fiction is great for dipping into, I'd just avoid 'The Naïve and Sentimental Lover' ( his 'divorce story' which co-incided with his own divorce, hasn't dated well and is a story much better told in his own autobiog).

'Last Night A DJ Saved... The History of the DJ' by Brewster and Broughton.

great book, if you enjoy it, try - Love Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970–1979 by Tim Lawrence

'Sinister Resonance: The Mediumship of the Listener' by David Toop.

This looks right up my street. Have you read any Simon Frith? I've got Mark Fisher's Ghosts of My Life in my 'to read' pile as well. All Cultural Studies/Critical Theory stuff about music, but fascinating nonetheless..

^ MCM, I've got 'Love Saves The Day' ready to go , inspired by David Mancuso's recent death I've been re-reading bits about The Loft and that early disco scene in NY.
Do you have the companion interviews book 'The Record Players'  to go with "Last Night..' ?

Yeah it's a rich seam that  Cultural/Critical Analysis vein.
Love a bit Simon Frith, the collection he edited 'Music and Copyright' has an amazing essay by him 'Music and the Media'.

My fascination with  David Toop is a bit obsessive, he was a guest lecturer on a course I did in the early 90s and he had a huge effect on my attitude to recording and making music particularly the relationship with found sound/noise/happy accidents.
His old columns in The Wire were always a great read.

Rip, rig was a good poster.

Currently reading Tom Clancy as I have read all the Jack Reacher stuff now.

Still not finished 'The camp of the Saints'. It is hard work.

Another dystopian novel on the list is 'Lord of the world' by Robert Hugh Benson. After that I might revisit ChesterBelloc.