BOOKS THREAD

Just read Taylor Jenkins Reid's acclaimed rock and roll novel Daisy Jones and The Six. A quick read - the oral history format certainly lends itself to that - but there was nothing here I haven't encountered in any of the dozens of rock bios I have read or documentaries or Behind the Music episodes I have seen.

All the rock and roll cliches are here: scrappy start, battling to the top, rampant band dysfunction, intra-band romances, musical differences, drugs, groupies, life at the top and the inevitable crash and burn.

Maybe the TV show that is coming from this can add to the dynamics between the main characters and give some context to things that just can't come through on the page of a book about a fictitious rock band: the songs they laboured over, the smash hit album that caused so much friction, the iconic album cover everyone loved. If I am reading a Zeppelin book and there is a discussion of a song, I am either very familiar with it or can dial it up online to jog my memory. Having the characters talk about how everyone loved a song that doesn't exist other than as a lyric sheet at the back of the book is kind of hard to grasp, for me anyway.

(For a great book on real 1970s rock and roll excess check out Michael Walker's What You Want Is In The Limo or anything written about Fleetwood Mac's Rumours era.)

Also read Lenny Kravitz' new memoir, Let Love Rule. Guy had an interesting life before he hit it big and that's the focus of the book which ends just as the single "Let Love Rule" is taking off. I will keep an eye out for the second volume.

 

I made my way through the oral history on "The Daily Show" in a weekend, but in hindsight, it's a little too in the bag for Stewart. Obviously, when you're there for as long as he was, and the show succeeds as much as it did, I'm not expecting 100 pages on Craig Kilborn or anything like that. But I suppose I would have liked to hear more from competitors, and from some of the network / inside baseball people, and at times it plays more like a "this happened, then this happened, and then THIS happened" kind of book.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through "Stalling For Time," which is by former FBI hostage negotiator Gary Noesner, and probably most famously now, what half of the "Waco" miniseries was based on. It's an interesting read, because Noesner does come off as reserved and as humble as Michael Shannon played him. It's a pretty brisk read and probably available at your local library, so I recommend it.

 

If you're good with fantasy and SF, take a look at Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series. He's seventeen books into what will be 24. The Syfy Channel did a very bad TV version that you might have caught along the way.

Dresden is a full bore wizard who works as a P.I. in modern Chicago. You name it, if it goes bump in the night it turns up somewhere in here. Vampires, trolls, the realm of faerie, the whole schmear. The first book of the series is the first book he ever wrote, and it shows - but the entire thing is intricately plotted far out in advance. Humor, pain, pathos, sacrifice, loyalty, trying to remain human while dealing with the monsters adn becoming drawn into their world over time. It's excellent for genre fiction, and lord knows that there's plenty to read.

These are not your ordinary urban fantasy books. Butcher has a way with plot and characterization.

 

Just finished Barbara Demick's book on Tibet "Eat the Buddha" and really enjoyed it. Having also loved her book on North Korea "Nothing to Envy" I can only say she has a knack for taking us to places that are hard to know.

 

The Texas Folklore Society publishes this book every year or two, and I found one on my shelves that was from 1976, and decided to give it a try. It contained a series of essays by folklorists and folklore scholars covering a pretty wide range of topics, but the last few dealt with the Texas music scene in the early- to mid-'70s, and I really liked those. Some of the essays kind of dragged, so there were a few that I kind of skimmed through.

Joe Bob says check it out, if this is in your wheelhouse.

 

Aside from a book about Indians and caves my parents bought me the year I was born, this might be the only Western book I've ever read. I found it at a local, socially-distanced and outdoor book sale a couple of weeks ago. And I bought it because a wonderful bookstore in downtown San Angelo, Texas -- my hometown -- specializes in Kelton's books. It's about a newly-appointed Texas Ranger who follows a bad guy who robbed a bank and possibly killed another lawman in the process. I read this over a weekend and really enjoyed it. And it was the first novel I've read since September, for what that's worth.

Joe Bob says check it out, and definitely check out the Cactus Bookshop if you're ever in San Angelo.

 

Chris Whipple's The Spymasters about CIA directors. Good, quick read. Just came out so it covers Pompeo/Haspel.

 

Had no idea. Thanks!

 

I'm curious what you found best or most interesting/compelling about this book? Trying to decide if I might purchase and read it. I've read "Nothing to Envy," also on suggestion of this board, and tend to lean toward this type of stuff. But what did you like about it?

 

I like a glimpse of a place that is hard to know. I liked that she followed individual people because there stories gave some narrative arc and made me feel more invested in the book. I'm a reader and not much of a writer so I can't explain it better than that.