Bought a book recently?

[Red Lenses]

Starting to store books on the Kindle for holiday reads later this month :-

Andy Weir - Atremis
Andy Weir - Project Hail Mary
Richard Osman - The Man Who Died Twice

and an actual book in The Blood Road by Stuart McBride

[Rufus_the_dawg]

reading- Expendable Man - Dorothy B Hughs

A 1960s book set in Arizona about the disappearance of a girl. Very much a page turner very noir

[Matt2112]

Finished The War On The West by Douglas Murray.

A typically astute and insightful commentary of our times.

Next: will re-try his The Strange Death Of Europe, which I only partially got through when it came out, but it seems an even more important read now than it did then.

[Blastzone]

Just began The Moonflower murders by Anthony Horowitz

[Norwegian]

Michel Houellebecq - Seratonin.

They say he is brilliant, I am really bored. But I have decided to finish it.

[Slim]

A couple of years ago I had a mild resurgence of interest in Genesis, probably prompted - now I think about it - by Steve Hackett's lockdown videos.

I remembered an album called Smallcreep's Day by Mike Rutherford, and did a bit of reading about it. What I didn't know when it came out in 1979 was that it was based on a book of the same name that had been published 14 years earlier. I bought it out of interest, but only got round to reading it this weekend. I'm about 15% of the way through.

Really an extraordinary book. Surreal, bizarre, grotesque. Seems to be a sort of depiction of a man's worst fears about working in a factory, or a grim satire on working life itself.

[pxr5]

The Apprentice - Gordon Houghton on which the Frost* song Milliontown is loosely based upon. The author has commented on it in the Frost* forum back in 2011:

http://frostmusic.net/forum/index.php?topic=2726.0

[David L]

No, but I borrowed one! 'Are we still rolling?' by Phill Brown.

Phill was a studio engineer who began his career in the '60s. Until I started reading it, I had no idea that he got his break in the business from his older brother, Terry Brown! Terry has got lots of mentions in the early chapters. Terry left the UK to set up Toronto Sound and at one point Phill worked over there with Terry for a while.
It's a great read so far but no mention of big brother Terry's stirling work with Toronto's finest.....yet

[Rufus_the_dawg]

Started reading Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks.

Just bought- The Four Wise Men by Michel Tournier, who is a brilliant French writer

[pdw1]

Read Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson.
I watched the TV adaption years ago (I think it is on the iplayer) and the book is equally good.

[Fishy]

Stephen King Everything's Eventual

[Matt2112]

Finally finished The Strange Death Of Europe by Douglas Murray.

As an explainer of the migrant situation in Europe (and beyond) it's an engrossing and enlightening read; however, any optimism about how it might be improved significantly is rather dashed by the end, when Murray simply seems to conclude he's as exasperated with things as everybody else. Which, in fairness, is understandable.

[David L]

No, but I borrowed one! 'Are we still rolling?' by Phill Brown.

Phill was a studio engineer who began his career in the '60s. Until I started reading it, I had no idea that he got his break in the business from his older brother, Terry Brown! Terry has got lots of mentions in the early chapters. Terry left the UK to set up Toronto Sound and at one point Phill worked over there with Terry for a while.
It's a great read so far but no mention of big brother Terry's stirling work with Toronto's finest.....yet

Just finished this tonight. To be honest, I got bored with it so put it to one side for a couple of months. The format is a little repetitive as Phill takes you through his various projects and the recording set ups, mic positioning etc.
Rush did get a mention. On a trip to Canada in 1980, Phill visits Terry at Le Studio "where he was recording another record with Rush. He'd produced six platinum albums with the band". I'm guessing it was MP.
The book has re-awakened a nascent interest in Talk Talk with whom Phill worked on their Spirit Of Eden and Laughing Stock albums. Mark Hollis and Phill became close but ultimately fell out over a later project.
I listened to what many would consider to be the band's three best works tonight. The Colour Of Spring is the most accessible, Spirit Of Eden is growing on me but Laughing Stock may be an experiment too far....at the moment anyway!

[Slim]

I'd say It's My Life is the most accessible Talk Talk album.

Laughing Stock is a mood record but I think it's a gem. So uncompromising and intense, in an introspective sort of way. I think there's an influence from the later Miles Davis recordings. I only discovered it after Mark Hollis died

[David L]

I'd say It's My Life is the most accessible Talk Talk album.

That may be so but I don't find it to be revered in the same way as the three I mentioned. Perhaps I should have started there and worked gradually towards Laughing Stock