All posts by Daneekas Ghost

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The Dead Weather – Treat Me Like Your Mother

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My brother and I were discussing Jack White projects not too long ago and we discovered that we have nearly opposite preferences.  So here is my current favorite Jack White-associated band.

They have a new album coming out sometime soon (September? - I'm too lazy to research this)

3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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John Luther Adams – Inuksuit

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You have to admit this is cool.  Dozens of percussionists, a big warehouse, and John Luther Adams' "ultimate environmental piece".

This is a 15-minute edit of a 60-minute piece, which is absolutely worth a listen if you are so inclined.

4 votes, average: 8.75 out of 104 votes, average: 8.75 out of 104 votes, average: 8.75 out of 104 votes, average: 8.75 out of 104 votes, average: 8.75 out of 104 votes, average: 8.75 out of 104 votes, average: 8.75 out of 104 votes, average: 8.75 out of 104 votes, average: 8.75 out of 104 votes, average: 8.75 out of 10 (4 votes, average: 8.75 out of 10)
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First Monday Book Day

First Monday Book Day

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Reading related thoughts:

  • The Vonnegut re-read has now entered the post-Breakfast of Champions stage where I've read less of the books and they seem to be less well known.  I find that I'm more excited to read (or re-read) these.
    Read Slapstick in July and it was pretty good. The theme of the secondary family has been more obvious as I read all of these novels back to back and I think this is the biggest example of that theme in his work.  I wouldn't put this up there among the best Vonnegut, but I enjoyed it just fine.
    Jailbird and Deadeye Dick are up this month.  I honestly can't remember if I have ever read Jailbird before, so that will be interesting.
  • In previous editions of FMBD, I know I've talked about my enjoyment of Two Dollar Radio as an independent publishing house.  Well, I got Haints Stay by Colin Winnette from them this month and I tore through it in about 12 hours.  It's an "acid western" about two brothers (one who is transgender) that are bounty hunters who find that a boy has appeared in their campsite.It's a violent thing and Winnette is always writes in an unrelenting style (a style that I've loved in everything I've read of his) and I felt like this was my favorite book of his that I've read.  It was definitely my favorite July read.
  • I had heard good things about Wesley Chu's Tao series, so I read that this month as well.  From the first book (Lives of Tao - Chu's debut) to the third, you can see him improve as a writer and the whole series is an interesting setup (aliens have been inhabiting select humans since the dawn of history and controlling the development of human civilization).  I would say it was reasonably good sci-fi, and worth checking out, but nothing that was groundbreaking.
  • Next month is the now-somewhat-annual Science Fiction/Fantasy Short Fiction Award post - this year not quite so focused on the Hugo Award, but there's plenty of good stuff to link to and discuss.  So mark your calendars?
First Monday Book Day

First Monday Book Day: July

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Talking to Ourselves by Andres Neuman is a short novel from the Argentinian author that I read last month.  I had read the first novel of his to be translated (Traveler of the Century) a few years ago and that was a huge 600 page novel of ideas.  This book is very much the opposite of that, it is short and immediate and has a significant impact.

There are three narrators; Lito, the child, Elena, the mother, and Mario, the father who is dying of cancer, but hiding that fact from his son.  All three of the characters are hiding things but the father's illness and approaching death shadows the book throughout.  Father and son embark on a cross country trip that for the father is a last chance to create a memory, and for Lito is his first chance to truly enter his father's adult world.  All three narrative arcs continue to dance around each other always approaching, but never do they actually connect and find common ground.

It's a book about family and grief and illness.  Each of the three narrators is so fully realized and observed by Neuman that the book comes together very well.  Neuman has become one of those authors that I will follow and read whatever comes out from him next (a story collection is coming in October, I hear - consider me excited).

That was one of my favorite books I've read in the first half of the year. Hopefully, you all have had similarly great reading experiences this month and we can while away the next few days discussing them.

First Monday Book Day

First Monday (Observed) Book Day

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  • Don't know if there are any William Gibson fans here, but I read his latest book, The Peripheral, this month and thought it was very good.  The world building was fantastic, and although I was a little let down by a very tidy ending, I would still rank it among my favorite sci-fi books from the last year or so.

 

  • I read Cat's Cradle and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater this month in my Vonnegut re-read project.  Cat's Cradle is still pretty great, although it's funny how much I remembered the post-apocalyptic parts of the book considering how little of that there actually is.  Mr. Rosewater was not my favorite of his, but it was one of the novels I hadn't read before, so the completist in me is happy to have read it.

 

  • I finished The Last Policeman series (The Last Policeman, Countdown City, World of Trouble).  Easy books to read, and I liked the setup for the mysteries (society is breaking down as an asteroid will destroy the Earth very soon).

 

  • I also finally got around to reading Citizen by Claudia Rankine.  It's a powerful book.  I was looking for where others posted their thoughts (I know Pepper and CH have read it as well), but didn't immediately find it.  It's very much worth a read.