BOOKS THREAD

I don't read The New Yorker so I wasn't familiar with David Remnick's portraits of musicians that have appeared in the magazine (save for the Springsteen one that came out at the time of Wrecking Ball that blew apart the "never a discouraging word" fan boy stuff in Rolling Stone to show the Boss as a tough bandleader and a guy who'd had his share of mental health issues) and are now collected in the new book Holding the Note, Profiles in Popular Music.

Many of those here have been well chronicled throughout their careers - Keef, McCartney, Springsteen, Dylan, Aretha - but there's good stuff there and the portraits of Buddy Guy, Mavis Staples, Pavarotti, Leonard Cohen and Patti Smith are really good too. Perhaps the most interesting one to me was the NYC radio host who was obsessed with jazz and in particular the life and career of Charlie Parker.

 

Any chick lit fans out there? Check out Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld. Not much brainpower required, but there's an engaging storyline about a female SNL writer and a host/musical guest.

 

Elizabeth Gilbert delays publication of novel 'The Snow Forest' amid backlash

 

On my wish list now. Thanks for sharing...

 

I read this book and really liked it. I found myself forgiving its flaws, which are not inconsiderable, because I enjoyed it that much.

 

The Brothers K by David James Duncan is one of the best books I've ever read. Call it my second favorite book next to Empire Falls.

Don't call Duncan prolific, though. In August, he'll put out his first novel since The Brothers K, which came out in 1992. It will jump to the top of my reading pile.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. The writing is really, really good. McCormick worked on the manuscript for something like 40 years, and didn't live to see it published. He died in 2015. There's lots of insight to Johnson's family, but the editor, a music scholar at the Smithsonian, talks in the afterword about how some of that information was obtained. He and others at the Smithsonian decided to leave out quite a bit, including a photo/some photos of Johnson that hadn't been previously published anywhere.

So I liked reading the book, but felt uneasy after. If you want to read more about the author - and he's a fascinating story in his own right - read this excellent piece by Michael Hall in Texas Monthly. If it's behind a paywall, apologies. I subscribe, so it always opens for me.

Hellhounds on His Trail: Mack McCormick’s Long, Tortured Quest to Find the Real Robert Johnson

And...one of Robert Johnson's sisters has written her own book, and used, I believe, some of the material from McCormick's files that were pulled from this book. I've got some other stuff on my TBR list before I get to that one.

Joe Bob says definitely check 'em out and figure out your own feelings.

 

Started reading Jeffrey Frank's book on Harry Truman yesterday (Wednesday). It was released last year.

Was curious about how a few particulars late in Truman's life were handled and started there. Had a minor quarrel with how Frank addressed one issue so ... I emailed him.
Early this morning, received his response. We agreed to disagree but, among other things, thanked him for the courtesy of getting back with me.

 

Lived in the Delta for about five years, but never delved much into its music history. This just might be what sends me on my way. Thanks for the head's up.

 

Ima read this book just based on the premise.




But I doubt anything I write could give a better summary than this:

https://airmail.news/issues/2023-6-17/muscle-memory

 

West Like Lighning, a history of the Pony Express, by Jim DeFelice. Very episodic bur entertaining and filled with great photos. The author is more known for ghostwriting memoirs of military veterans.

 

Read Homegrown by Jeffrey Toobin about the OKC bombings. Very well researched and often very well written. I found the constant hand holding parallels to January 6th to be insulting to the intelligence of the reader. Still worth a look though.

I’m about 1/3 of the way into Oscar Wars by Michael Shulman and am really enjoying it.