BOOKS THREAD

Huggy's reviews of rock biographies are one of the most underrated aspects of SJ.com.

Even when he pans a book like this one, it makes me want to read at least part of it to see if I agree with his commentary. (Portraying Nicks as a racist? Really?)

 

Just finished Chuck Klosterman's latest collection of magazine articles, Grantland pieces, etc — a book simply titled, "X" (as in, ten years of writing, from 2008-17).

I know Klosterman is a polarizing figure on SJ.com, but I've always enjoyed his books and magazine articles, from "Fargo Rock City" onward. His new book is much of what you expect from him — mildly humorous and/or interesting profiles of people such as Tim Tebow, Eddie Van Halen and Kobe Bryant; goofy lists and rankings such as the "VORM" for musicians (riffing on the "VORP" for baseball players); and of course, a complete blowout of KISS's career to commemorate their induction into the Rock 'n' Roll HOF.

My favorite essay was the very last one — a look at the deaths of famous musicians such as David Bowie and Prince during 2016, and how reaction to their death has become performance art on the internet. He contrasts that with the subject of his best (IMHO) book, "Killing Yourself to Live," which examined the tributes/industries that surrounds rock stars who died tragic deaths. Bottom line: we're all getting older and death is not just an abstract concept to navel-gaze about, but a concrete thing which we need to acknowledge and accept is in our not-so-distant future.

Klosterman's not for everyone, but if you enjoy his work, "X" is a return to form and enjoyable read.

 

Yes.

 

And then there's his movie work, as interviewer of James Murphy in "Shut Up and Play the Hits," great movie about (what we thought seven years ago was, but thankfully wasn't) LCD Soundsystem's final concert.

 

The interview that prompted the movie appearance is in "X"

 

Two other rock memoirs I have recently read:

In many ways What Does This Button Do? by Bruce Dickinson is like a lot of other rock bios, full of good stuff on his life in Iron Maiden and as a solo artist (as well as a lot of interesting stuff about his pre-Maiden life) but it also spends a lot of time on his other life as an airline pilot and his recent battle with cancer. But unlike the average rock bio, there is nothing in there about his personal life, no wives, girlfriends, groupies, kids etc. If Clapton had cut all the details of his disastrous relationships and drug use from his memoir it would have been a pamphlet.

I can't think of another artist who wrote a memoir who accomplished less musically than Steve Jones, but Lonely Boy is an entertaining read, not only about the rise and fall of the Sex Pistols but his life as a adolescent petty thief. John Lydon gets all pissy in his books (the last of which was a damn good read) but Jones takes the high road and fills his book with a lot of great stories, great British humour and slang and like Rod Stewart and Phil Collins did in their books, isn't afraid to laugh at himself.

 

Help: going on vacation for a week. I’m in the midst of Michael Chabon gentlemen of the road. My 3rd or 4th Chabon book. Really enjoy him.
On the recommendations of you nice people I have read some Elmore Leonard and James Elroy. I’ve seen Dennis Lehane recommendations but I’ve never read him. I think my choices would be A Drink Before the War. Since We Fell or The Given Day.
What do you all think?

 

Chabon might write the most perfect sentences of any current writer. Just a joy to read, even though his last novel, Telegraph Avenue, was a slog in its organization. I’ve interviewed him a few times. The first time, I asked him why he seems to use the term “toilette” a lot. Crickets.

 

Agree on Chabon’s sentences. I don’t know how anyone can write like that for 400 pages.

Current reading “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
I’m racing through it to get to the source notes because ... I don’t know how anyone can report like that for 400 pages.

 

I read before I go to sleep and right after waking up. If I'm not reading, there's something seriously wrong. I confess a weakness for mindless chick lit, the sort of book I can finish in an afternoon. As a result, I am pondering joining Goodreads and trying to get into reading with a purpose. But I also appreciate walking into the library and picking up whatever appeals at that moment.


JANUARY
The Kept Man – Jami Attenberg (Jan. 1)
Hitman Anders and the Meaning of it All – Jonas Jonasson (Jan. 8 )
The Book that Matters Most – Ann Hood (Jan. 11)
The Whistler – John Grisham (Jan. 18)
Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War – Mary Roach (Jan. 22)
Future Sex – Emily Witt (Jan. 25)
I'm so Happy For You – Lucinda Rosenfeld (Jan. 29)


FEBRUARY
The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance – David Epstein (Feb. 2)
The Good People of New York – Thisbe Nissen (Feb. 5)
Bee Season – Myla Goldberg (Feb. 11)
The Next – Stephanie Gangi (Feb. 18)
The Course of Love – Alain de Botton (Feb. 19)
Dear Fang With Love – Rufi Thorpe (Feb. 24)
Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America – Morgan Spurlock (Feb. 27)
Always a Bridesmaid For Hire: Stories on Growing Up, Looking for Love, and Walking down the Aisle for Complete Strangers – Jen Glantz (Feb. 28)


MARCH
Class – Lucinda Rosenfeld (March 9)
Paris for One & Other Stories – Jojo Moyes (March 12)
Hungry Heart: Adventures in Life, Love and Writing – Jennifer Weiner (March 16)
Small Admissions – Amy Poeppel (March 18)
Lay the Favorite: A Memoir of Gambling – Beth Raymer (March 23)
Finding Audrey – Sophie Kinsella (March 26)
My (Not So) Perfect Life – Sophie Kinsella (March 30)


APRIL
The Atomic Weight of Love – Elizabeth J. Church (April 3)
The Alphabet Sisters – Monica McInerney (April 4)
All Grown Up – Jami Attenberg (April 6)
The Wangs vs. The World – Jade Chang (April 15)
Swing Time – Zadie Smith (April 24)


MAY
The Devil's Triangle – Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison (May 1)
A Long Way Down – Nick Hornby (May 10)
The Books That Changed My Life: Reflections by 100 Authors, Actors, Musicians, and Other Remarkable People – Bethanne Patrick (May 16)
My Name is Lucy Barton – Elizabeth Strout (May 19)
No One Can Pronounce My Name – Rakesh Saytal (May 25)
Startup – Doree Shafrir (May 28)


JUNE
First Comes Love – Emily Giffin (June 1)
The First Husband – Laura Dave (June 4)
Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give – Ada Calhoun (June 6)
The Awkward Age – Francesca Segal (June 9)
Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics That Stirred the World – David Maraniss (June 18)
Discovering Vintage New Orleans – Bonnye Stuart (June 22)
Frommer's Easy Guide to New Orleans 2017 – Diana K. Schwam (June 22)
Testimony – Scott Turow (June 23)
Courting Trouble – Lisa Scottoline (June 24)
Family and Other Accidents – Shari Goldhagen (June 27)


JULY
Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America – Michael Ruhlman (July 3)
Cocktails for Three – Madeleine Wickham (July 4)
The Wedding Girl – Madeleine Wickham (July 4)
Shake Shack: Recipes and Stories – Randy Garutti and Mark Rosati (July 4)
No Good Deed – Goldy Moldavsky (July 7)
Rich People Problems – Kevin Kwan (July 10)
Chemistry – Weike Wang (July 10)
Swell – Jill Eisenstadt (July 16)
Books that Cook: The Making of a Literary Meal – Jennifer Cognard Black and Melissa A. Goldthwaite, eds. (July 19)
How to Read a Dress: a Guide to Changing Fashion from the 16th to the 20th Century – Lydia Edwards (July 20)
Extra-Ordinary Adventures – Daniel Wallace (July 24)
Frommer's Easy Guide to Montreal and Quebec City – Leslie Brokaw, Erin Trahan & Matthew Barber (July 25)
Trajectory – Richard Russo (July 26)
Opening Belle – Maureen Sherry (July 27)
Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison – Piper Kerman (July 30)
The Vintage Caper – Peter Mayle (July 30)


AUGUST
On the Runway: Premiere – Melody Carlson (August 1)
What Elephants Know – Eric Dinerstein (August 3)
It's Kind of a Funny Story – Ned Vizzini (August 6)
Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters and Rogue Scientists Who Taught me to Live For Taste – Bianca Bosker (August 12)
I Feel Bad All Day. Every Day. About Everything – Orli Auslander (August 13)
Attachments – Rainbow Rowell (August 19)
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body – Roxane Gay (August 21)
The Idiot – Elif Batuman (August 28)
The Sunshine Sisters – Jane Green (August 31)


SEPTEMBER
Knowing the Score: what sports can teach us about philosophy (and what philosophy can teach us about sports) – David Papineau (Sept. 3)
Vanishing New York: How a Great City Lost its Soul – Jeremiah Moss (Sept. 8 )
Class Mom – Laurie Gelman (Sept. 10)
Lockdown – Laurie R. King (Sept. 12)
No Apparent Distress: A Doctor's Coming of Age on the Front Lines of American Medicine – Rachel Pearson, M.D. (Sept. 18)
The Locals – Jonathan Dee (Sept. 18)
Charlatans – Robin Cook (Sept. 20)
The Science of Star Wars: The Scientific Facts Behind The Force, Space Travel and More – Mark Brake and John Chase (Sept. 21)
Modern Girls – Jennifer S. Brown (Sept. 21)
Less – Andrew Sean Greer (Sept. 22)
Sweet Spot: An Ice Cream Binge Across America – Amy Ettinger (Sept. 23)
Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women who Changed the World – Ann Shen (Sept. 24)
The Answers – Catherine Lacey (Sept. 28)
Enigma – Catherine Coulter (Sept. 30)


OCTOBER
Fitness Junkie – Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza (Oct. 3)
The Arena: Inside the Tailgating, Ticket-Scalping, Mascot-Racing, Dubiously Funded, and Possibly Haunted Monuments of American Sport – Rafi Kohan (Oct. 5)
Careers for Women – Joanna Scott (Oct. 9)
What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women & the Food That Tells Their Stories – Laura Shapiro (Oct. 12)
The Misfortune of Marion Palm – Emily Culliton (Oct. 16)
Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng (Oct. 20)
Touch – Courtney Maum (Oct. 22)
Made for Love – Alissa Nutting (Oct. 24)
The Hot One: A Memoir of Friendship, Sex and Murder – Carolyn Murnick (Oct. 28)
Stay With Me – Ayobami Adebayo (Oct. 31)


NOVEMBER
The Necklace – Claire McMillan (Nov. 4)
Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York – Roz Chast (Nov. 5)
Munchies: Late-Night Meals from the World's Best Chefs – J.J. Goode, Hellen Hollyman and the editors of Munchies (Nov. 5)
Brides, Inc.: American Weddings and the Business of Tradition – Vicki Howard (Nov. 8 )
Home Fire – Kamila Shamsie (Nov. 14)
Something Like Happy – Eva Woods (Nov. 19)
Nuclear Family: A Tragicomic Novel in Letters – Susanna Fogel (Nov. 23)
The Chain: Farm, Factory and the Fate of Our Food – Ted Genoways (Nov. 24)
Priestdaddy – Patricia Lockwood (Nov. 26)
I Hear She's a Real Bitch – Jen Agg (Nov. 30)


DECEMBER
Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater – Frank Bruni (Dec. 4)
Don't Let My Baby Do Rodeo – Boris Fishman (Dec. 7)
Dept. of Speculation – Jenny Offill (Dec. 9)
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City – Matthew Desmond (Dec. 13)
Seating Arrangements – Maggie Shipstead (Dec. 18)
A Week at the Airport – Alain de Botton (Dec. 19)
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman (Dec. 21)
Conversations With Friends – Sally Rooney (Dec. 24)
Amanda Wakes Up – Alisyn Camerota (Dec. 26)
When Dimple Met Rishi – Sandhya Menon (Dec. 28)
The Rooster Bar – John Grisham (Dec. 29)