I’M READING AS FAST AS I CAN (MARCH 2012 EDITION)

[defrog]

Reading books for yr entertainment since 2005.

JUST FINISHED

Mystery Train: Images of America In Rock’n’Roll Music by Greil Marcus
In which music critic Greil Marcus writes at length about how the music of The Band, Sly Stone, Randy Newman and Elvis (and Robert Johnson and Harmonica Frank before them) reflect different aspects of America – not in terms of nationalism or patriotism but the underlying ideals, quirks and contradictions that define America as a concept as well as a country. Obviously it’s very subjective, and like a lot of music critics, Marcus sounds to me like he’s over-intellectualizing and generally reading more into the music than the artists intended. On the plus side, Marcus clearly put a lot of thought into it and writes about music in a way that makes you at least understand his passion for it, even if it doesn’t convince you that (say) The Band really were that important. (Also, points for selecting some non-obvious artists for his overall thesis.) If nothing else, it’s a great argument starter for music fans.

JUST STARTED

Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov
I’ve been enjoying the Foundation series so far, but was a little wary of moving beyond the initial trilogy, as Asimov decided to continue the series some 30 years later. Still, why not? 

RECENT TITLES

The Year Of The Flood by Margaret Atwood
The sequel to Oryx and Crake, which takes place in the same dystopian future in which gene-splicing is commonplace and society has become over-commercialized and ruled by corporate interests, until a virus wipes out most of humanity. This installment follows two different characters – both former members of a back-to-nature religious cult, who also played minor roles in the first book. In some ways it’s even better than the first, and although it gets a little bogged down with teen romance backstabbing drama midway through, let it be said that few people write that sort of thing better than Atwood. It also addresses the cliffhanger ending of the first book. Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot, and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes dystopian fiction. 


My Education by William S Burroughs
I’ve always been fascinated by dreams – not just mine, but other people’s as well. This is Burroughs’ edited dream journal, and in some ways it reads like many of his books (disjointed dreamlike narratives, paranoia, gay sex, etc). It’s also probably the most personal book I’ve ever read by him, as it’s essentially an autobiography of his subconscious. There’s no reason to read it if yr not already a big Burroughs fan, and I wouldn’t call it essential, but it makes a nice bedside book. 

Inter Ice Age 4 by Kobo Abe
Kafka-esque sci-fi from Japan about a Japanese computer scientist who develops a computer that can predict the future, but with its use restricted for political reasons, he continues to experiment clandestinely and soon finds himself caught up in a secret plan by a private corporation to create an underwater civilization. The story was weird enough to keep me interested and asks some interesting questions about how we look at the future (and how the future looks at us), but overall I came away from it with the same feeling the last time I read one of Abe’s books – good, but a little goes a long way. 

The Rare Coin Score by Richard Stark
Continuing my education of the works of Donald E. Westlake, this is my second time reading about Parker, the no-nonsense heist artist. The job: steal $2 million in rare coins from a coin dealers convention. The complications: an amateur finger man and Claire, who gets under Parker’s skin whether he wants her to or not. Obviously things don’t go according to plan. It’s a good tale told with Stark’s usual economy of language. I’m really warming to Parker as a character, so it’s nice to have found a crime series worth pursuing. 

Doom Patrol Vol. 4: Musclebound by Grant Morrison, Richard Case, Mark McKenna, Steve Yeowell, Mike Dringenberg, Jamie Hewlett and Rian Hughes
The further adventures of Doom Patrol – this volume featuring the origin story of Flex Mentallo (on a mission to literally reshape the Pentagon), and villainy courtesy of the Beard Hunter, the Sex Men, and the return of Mr Nobody and the Brotherhood of Dada. It’s Morrison. It’s weird. And this time it’s a little more comprehensible (compared to Vol. 3, anyway). Good fun.


Charles Atlas shrugged,

This is dF