BOOKS THREAD

Uncle Verne has a bio coming out:

 

"Never a Dull Moment: 1971, the Year that Rock Exploded" by David Hepworth.

Great book for us rock n roll nerds; it covers the whole spectrum, from R&B to hard rock, from Cat Stevens to Led Zeppelin.

If nothing else, the chapter discussing Carole King's "Tapestry" and the type of maturing music fan who bought it makes the book worth reading. Interesting and often humorous stuff.

Hepworth does a good job making connections and/or showing the stark differences between 1971 and 2016 (when he wrote the book). For example, the extreme, several-days-of-work set up needed to get the drums-from-God intro to "When the Levee Breaks" in 1971. Today? A few tweaks with ProTools.

Guess which sounds better ...

 

I heard a podcast with the authors and got so excited bought it on Prime and get to start now!

 

Dead Man's Blues is Ray Celestin's terrific follow-up to his great first novel, The Axeman's Jazz, transporting some of the main characters (Louis Armstrong being one) from his first book from New Orleans to Prohibition-era Chicago. There are a lot of balls to keep in the air with regards to the plot but the suspense and pacing never drags. As he did in his debut, Celestin writes so evocatively of Chicago in those days - he is also great writing about music in these books - that the city is as much a part of the book as any of the characters.

 

My reading (err, audiobook listening) has been heavy on the Scandinavian mysteries lately - Harry Hole series, Department Q series, I did Jar City from the Erlendur series (sadly only one I could find on audiobook at any of my libraries). I worked my way through Wallander and Girl w/the Dragon Tattoo ages ago.
But made me wonder what other countries I should start branching out to. Skipping over the long list of British crime writers (who I know fairly well) any recommendations for foreign crime/mystery series?

 

There's some good Irish mystery writers ... Tana French in particular. If you're up for more Scandinavian mystery there are some great series written by women. Check out the Irene Huss series by Helene Tursten or Liza Marklund's Annika Bengtzon series (extra points because the heroine is newspaper reporter).

 

Awesome! Thanks!
Happy to read women authors (though I do acknowledge a weird bias towards picking out male authors if randomly grabbing a book - a habit I know I should break).

 

"One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko" kept me company while I waited in line at the DMV. Some of his columns could have been written today. One thing that occurred to me: If they could survive the sixties, we can survive the Trump years.

One of his best:
Millions In His Firing Squad

 

Wow, that's a hell of a column. Especially considering it no doubt pissed off the majority of his readers. Royko didn't mince words, especially his final sentences:

"We have pointed a gun at our own head and we are squeezing the trigger. And nobody we elect is going to help us. It is our head and our finger. "

 

I admire his editors for believing in his work in spite of the prospect of angering their readership.

 

The Big Fella - Jane Leavy - Hardcover

Will be starting this one today. Jane Leavy is a great author. Her books on Mantle and Koufax were outstanding. I imagine more of the same with this one.