BOOKS THREAD

33rd of August is an all timer.

I was listening to the “One By Willie” podcast with Steve Earle, who mentions Newbury as the bridge between country and coffee house music.

 

I love "One By Willie." I've emailed the host twice asking if he'll come speak to my college classes, but he hasn't replied, so I'll take that as a no.

 

I really wanted to like this. I figured I could take some of what I read and incorporate it into my lesson on writing obituaries, but I didn't learn much. It's like the authors just searched "interesting facts about death" and put the results into a book. There's no depth at all. It kind of skims the surface on one topic, then jumps to something else. There's one section that's repeated. And it needs an editor.

Joe Bob says pass on this one.

 

Slaying the Dragon by Ben Riggs about the rise and fall of TSR, the company that produced Dungeons & Dragons.

Never been a gamer or into fantasy, but I love behind the scenes stories and this did not disappoint.

 

Might have to track that one down. There’s a lot of pitfalls and trap doors to be unearthed in TSR’s former home of Lake Geneva, Wis.

 

HumbleBundle.com is offering an encore sale of the entire Discworld series. There are three tiers with the biggest offering all 39 ebooks for a minimum donation of 18.00. This is co-sponsored by KOBO and Harper Collins with the proceeds going to Room To Read.

 

I forgot to mention the book is only from 2022.

 

Just finished “I Don’t Want to Go Home: The Oral History of the Stone Pony” by Nick Corasaniti. Fairly breezy read and somewhat interesting in the context of the economic tumult which has been Asbury Park. Little Steven’s ego is a sight to behold in some of the quotes about the legacy of the Asbury Jukes. And as always, everything in that part of the world is so Bruce centric.

 

The Man Who Broke Capitalism by David Gelles about Jack Welch. While not a biography per se, it is an absolutely stinging critique of him. He is portrayed as a greedy, heartless, unethical, delusional anti-Obama conspiracy theorist.

In this short volume, he covers many tangents (including Welch's time as GE CEO and the failures of his proteges at other companies) and pens a section on how to avoid Welchism.

 

Nelson DeMille died. Loved many of his books and just finished the latest John Corey adventure. A great thriller and mystery writer but also made me laugh like hell with his writing. Gold Coast probably my favorite.

 

Charm School and Night Fall were my fave DeMille books of his that I'd read.

 

One of my favs has always been "The Years Best Sportswriting...." Unfortunately I have fallen down the last couple years but just ordered my 2023 edition. (I bet some of you are in my books.)