What Are You Reading vol3: Primary School Book Reports

[Ismene2]

I enjoyed reading Albert Goldman's "The Lives of John Lennon" many years ago although he did make Lennon out to be a completely monstrous person. I had to think to myself that he couldn't have been that bad surely.

And Walden, OMG have I tried with that book. Apparently Chris Mcandless / Alexander Super Tramp, the guy who the film Into The Wild was made about, was reading Walden before / during his trip IIRC, and that's how I first came to hear about it. The subject matter and the whole 'philosophy' is right up my street, but I find Therou's style incredibly dense and dry, and the phrasing so archaic that I just can't get into it, try as I might. Apparently you're only meant to tackle maybe one page at a time, and read it very slowly to digest it. It was written in that manner to be read in that manner. But sadly I just can't connect with it.

All my reading is now done via audio book, I just can't read more than a couple of sentences of a printed book without my mind wandering. I'm kind of alternating between easy reading relatively modern stuff like Stephen King and James Herbert etc and trying to alternate the easy reads with classics, or something more difficult and challenging.

I've loved The Dead Zone, and The Shining by Stephen King. Amazing books. Cujo was really very good as well. I also really enjoyed 'Rage' and 'The Long Walk' written by King's pseudonym, Richard Bachman. I'm listening to King's Firestarter at the moment, and it's OK, kind of a bit dated, but the subject matter feels very much like Stranger Things. The series that feels most like something Stephen King could have written but actually didn't. I had to DNF Salem's Lot. I hate vampire stories, they don't do anything for me, and that and Cell are the only Stephen King books that I've abandoned so far.

My more challenging read I've just finished was The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster. It actually turned out not to be a difficult book but I expected it would be. I loved the first story of the trilogy so much. I can't remember connecting with a story so much and becoming so engrossed for quite some time. For some reason I just couldn't connect with the 2nd and 3rd parts, although that seems to be my issue, as most reviews seem to rank the whole work very highly.

Yeah I loved the Lennon book - at the time I'd just finished the Ray Coleman biog and it portrayed Lennon as this well-balanced, lovely bloke with a witty rejoinder for everything - it just sickened me off the man completely. Lennon to me is the last minute or so of Cold Turkey - about as far from a well-balanced bloke as you can get! As Bill Hicks said "I want my rock stars fucking dead". Goldman really got me back into Lennon. And Goldmans sense of humour is magic too - there's a bit where Lennon and Phil Spector are in a bar playing "Bet you cant do this" and it goes "Spector said "bet you can't do this" before throwing himself backwards in his chair and striking his head violently on the floor. "You win" quipped Lennon". Goldman ends the Lenny Bruce book with the photo of Lenny laying dead with the syringe still in his arm "You look at his face and notice Lenny looks serene. Maybe even happy". The Elvis book is beautiful too - all the stuff about Elvis like women in white panties.

I've only just started Walden - I got it because I saw a quote from it "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them". I'll let you know if I can make any headway with it.

I loved the Dead Zone film with Chris Walken but never read the book. I tend to stick to non-fiction but occasionaly dip my toe in a novel - I've been trying to get through Dostoevsky "Notes from underground"

 

[ĐmantuNJofra]

Dune- Croatian language version, part one or the first one

 

[Bleaney]

I'm still making my way through Stephen King's bibliography in chronological order. My favourites so far have been The Shining, The Dead Zone, and The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three. The depth of the characters in the first 2 and general story telling is incredible, and King's inventiveness in the Dark Tower II is extraordinary. The title character finds himself inhabiting other people's minds. Three particular minds; 3 people that need drawing together. One of whom is a guy trying to smuggle cocaine via a flight, and that whole story arc is so exciting.

Cujo, The Long Walk, and Pet Semetary were also very good and well worth the time and effort. I didn't like The Stand or Salem's Lot, which most King fans rate as among his best works. I dunno why I didn't like The Stand, as I like apocalypse type stuff on films and TV, maybe it was just too long and rambling. And I just don't like vampire stories at all, they just seem ridiculous and I cant manage to suspend disbelief, so I just could not get into Salem's Lot at all.

I'm also still trying as much as possible to alternate between more popular, easy reading type books, with other books that may be more literary, 'classic', or just generally more mentally challenging.

I tried reading Naked Lunch in my late teens and did not get very far with that. So I'm trying "Junky" right now and will see what I make of that.

I have it on audio book mp3 format, with it being split into 6 discs, with about 20 chapters per disc.

Christ the first disk was a chore, it was just like an academic lecture about the publication history and revisions of the book over time. I guess at least it helped set the context of the times in which the book was released.

I will finally start on the book proper, as I'm about to some dish washing just now.

Combining doing the washing up with listening to audio books is absolutely perfect for my ADHD. I'd find my mind wandering or ruminating if I tried to do either thing alone, but the combination of tasks is perfect, as it makes the tedious chore of dish washing nowhere near as bad, and I'd struggle to just sit and listen to an audio book without my mind wandering, if that was the sole focus of my attention.

Anyway, back to the book, I know @Zopiclone bandit has read it and has huge respect for Burroughs, and I am looking forward to it myself quite a bit now. I think the last drug memoirs type of thing I read was John Cooper Clarke's "I Wanna Be Yours" which was a good one. I've not watched any youtube reviews, guides, or rankings etc about Junky, so will go into the book with no expectations or pre-conceptions.

Is anyone else reading anything drug related currently or recently, or anything not drug related at all, but something that you're enjoying and would recommend?

 

[Cheshire_Kat]

Carl Jung - Black Books

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393088642
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393088649

 

[Robi]

Autobiography of a Yogi(again) Jonathan Livingston Seagull (again)And its Always Something by my beloved Gilda Radner ( yes again)

 

[Shambles]

I’ve read Jonathon Livingston Seagull (never seen the film though) and it’s obviously a classic!

Not currently reading any books. Cos I’m a peasant

 

[Robi]

I’ve read Jonathon Livingston Seagull (never seen the film though) and it’s obviously a classic!

Not currently reading any books. Cos I’m a peasant

Oh going to watch the film right now,a peasant no way!

 

[4DQSAR]

I sort of cheat because essentially I live in 1 room (limited mobility) so when I was moved here, I gave away all of my books except a few of sentimental value.

But I've been listening to the original BBC recording of 'Under Milk Wood' narrated by Richard Burton. In my defence, it was written as a play for radio.

Likewise I keep going back to the BBC radio adaptation of 'I. Claudius' and 'Claudius the God' which they chose to just call 'I, Claudius'. Now I think the absolute genius is that it only shares the same TIME as the books. Anyone familiar with the Tom Stoppard play 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead' will understand. The radio adaptation is what's happening elsewhere when the scenes in the book take place. So it's actually quite different to the book and each re-enforces the other.

That and yet another crack at Finnigan's Wake. I love it but don't claim to understand it. Let's face it, it's an experimental book that uses the shape of words rather than the meaning to convay the sense of time, place and events.

 

[Shambles]

I fukkin love Finnegan’s Wake. Although I must admit I’ve never actually read the book - just an audio performance of it which was just so damnably lyrical and evocative…

As far as actual reading goes I’ve only ventured as far as The Dubliners. Admittedly probably the “easiest” of Joyce’s works but an absolute belter of modernist realism (if that’s what it is, seems appropriate to me but I’m no Eng Lit scholar)

 

[4DQSAR]

I fukkin love Finnegan’s Wake. Although I must admit I’ve never actually read the book - just an audio performance of it which was just so damnably lyrical and evocative…

As far as actual reading goes I’ve only ventured as far as The Dubliners. Admittedly probably the “easiest” of Joyce’s works but an absolute belter of modernist realism (if that’s what it is, seems appropriate to me but I’m no Eng Lit scholar)

Well, he's one of the few authors where you can just tell someone to read anything because it's ALL so amazing.

I suppose Conrad would be another example. I really enjoy all of his work.

Oh, and also Jeanette Winterson. I know much has been made of her occasionally ill-advised actions, but I do wonder if it had been a male author, it would even have been in the news. Say what you want, she describes love better than any other author whose work I have read.

 

[Bleaney]

I enjoyed the second disc of junky very much, yesterday evening. Not going to say anything else about it at this stage.

I also noticed that the last few posts seem to be suggesting that listening to books is somehow 'less than' reading them.

I don't think that is necessarily the case, but I understand that some people do. I guess it's debatable.

I've listened to several 'book people' discuss the topic, and most were of the opinion that if the audio book format works better for certain people, and for certain books in particular, which it certainly does, then there is nothing wrong with that. It's much better to listen to audio books than to not read at all.

That said, I understand and appreciate that it is a different form of brain exercise to read, rather than listen. One that for multiple reasons I listed in another post recently, that unfortunately I can no longer do.

With some especially difficult books it's recommended to listen to the audio book and follow the printed prose at the same time, in order to help digest them. (Some of James Joyce's more difficult works might have fallen into that category, IIRC.)

 

[Perkins : Reborn]

I sort of cheat because essentially I live in 1 room (limited mobility) so when I was moved here, I gave away all of my books except a few of sentimental value.

But I've been listening to the original BBC recording of 'Under Milk Wood' narrated by Richard Burton. In my defence, it was written as a play for radio.

Likewise I keep going back to the BBC radio adaptation of 'I. Claudius' and 'Claudius the God' which they chose to just call 'I, Claudius'. Now I think the absolute genius is that it only shares the same TIME as the books. Anyone familiar with the Tom Stoppard play 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead' will understand. The radio adaptation is what's happening elsewhere when the scenes in the book take place. So it's actually quite different to the book and each re-enforces the other.

That and yet another crack at Finnigan's Wake. I love it but don't claim to understand it. Let's face it, it's an experimental book that uses the shape of words rather than the meaning to convay the sense of time, place and events.

Finnegans Wake (no apostophe; sorry - insufferable pedant) is something very special indeed. It also never ends, so anybody who claims they've finished it is talking rot! I keep a copy by my bedside and just jump in whenever I feel like it.

I'm definitely not one of those people who's 'discovered' a cohesive, conventional plot. Never been convinced of that either.

Up there with The Waste Land as one of the true classics of twentieth century literature. Or a load of bollocks, depending on your outlook. Maybe even a load of
bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk.

 

[Zopiclone bandit]

Christ the first disk was a chore, it was just like an academic lecture about the publication history and revisions of the book over time

We all been there, it is a hard read if you aren't into that stuff.

The "Saga of The Black Bastard" is classic though.

 

[Bleaney]

We all been there, it is a hard read if you aren't into that stuff.

The "Saga of The Black Bastard" is classic though.

I'm enjoying the book now that I've reached the parts Burrough's wrote, I just found the whole of the first disc about the publication history and revisions incredibly boring. I didn't know if it woul;d get anymore interesting, but it never did lol. I wish they'd have been clearer at the outset as to exactly what the first disc entailed.

But yeah, well to do lad with an allowance and no need to work, until he suddenly needs extra money for a certain something and gets involved with petty criminals, it has been a great opener. I'll probably race through this one in no time. It's a very accessible read so far, completely unlike Naked Lunch.

 

[Zopiclone bandit]

well to do lad with an allowance and no need to work, gets involved with petty criminals

He soon says how he never knew the need to get cash together or knew the pure need of Addiction till he got a habit.

Old Ike is The Sailor in Naked Lunch, I laughed so much with this book as I "know" the types like The Fag, Old Ike, The Black Bastard etc........
It maybe nearly 100 years old but Junkies are all the same.

The tip about the Chinese "keeping face" part with Doctors served me well, they are fully aware what you want those Pre-gabs, Oral Morphine, Valium etc for BUT you must act out a drama as a "face saving" ritual, they would NEVER write a crooked script but you have a well polished tale most will write for something.
@LoginNotSecure

 

[Perkins : Reborn]

@Bleaney The character called 'Herman' - one of his first morphine connections - is none other than Herbert Huncke.

I don't think any Herbert Huncke audiobooks exist, but I have this volume that's also been posted to the Internet Archive. Most of his stuff is out of print, so that anthology is a godsend.

This interview is probably the closest you'll get.

 

[Zopiclone bandit]

I lay on the narrow wood bench, twisting from one side to the other. My body was raw, twitching, tumescent, the junk-frozen flesh in agonizing thaw. I turned over on my stomach and one leg slipped off the bench. I pitched forward and the rounded edge of the bench, polished smooth by the friction of cloth, slid along my crotch. There was a sudden rush of blood to the genitals at the slippery contact. Sparks exploded behind my eyes; my legs twitched—the orgasm of a hanged man when the neck snaps.

The 103rd Street boys were all oldtimers—thin, sallow faces; bitter, twisted mouths; stiff-fingered, stylized gestures. (There is a junk gesture that marks the junkie like the limp wrist marks the fag: the hand swings out from the elbow stiff-fingered, palm up.) They were of various nationalities and physical types, but they all looked alike somehow. They all looked like junk. There was Irish, George the Greek, Pantopon Rose, Louie the Bellhop, Eric the Fag, the Beagle, the Sailor, and Joe the Mex. Several of them are dead now, others are doing time. There are no more junkies at 103rd and Broadway waiting for the connection. The connection has gone somewhere else. But the feel of junk is still there. It hits you at the corner, follows you along the block, then falls away like a discouraged panhandler as you walk on.

 

[Zopiclone bandit]

Herbert Huncke

Speaks about his time in India at the Smashan (Cremation Ground)

 

[Bleaney]

I lay on the narrow wood bench, twisting from one side to the other. My body was raw, twitching, tumescent, the junk-frozen flesh in agonizing thaw. I turned over on my stomach and one leg slipped off the bench. I pitched forward and the rounded edge of the bench, polished smooth by the friction of cloth, slid along my crotch. There was a sudden rush of blood to the genitals at the slippery contact. Sparks exploded behind my eyes; my legs twitched—the orgasm of a hanged man when the neck snaps.

The 103rd Street boys were all oldtimers—thin, sallow faces; bitter, twisted mouths; stiff-fingered, stylized gestures. (There is a junk gesture that marks the junkie like the limp wrist marks the fag: the hand swings out from the elbow stiff-fingered, palm up.) They were of various nationalities and physical types, but they all looked alike somehow. They all looked like junk. There was Irish, George the Greek, Pantopon Rose, Louie the Bellhop, Eric the Fag, the Beagle, the Sailor, and Joe the Mex. Several of them are dead now, others are doing time. There are no more junkies at 103rd and Broadway waiting for the connection. The connection has gone somewhere else. But the feel of junk is still there. It hits you at the corner, follows you along the block, then falls away like a discouraged panhandler as you walk on.

Fantastic passage of writing. I must admit that hits better in word format, where you can take your time to savor it. Whereas the audio book is obviously a constant speed throughout.

I think this might be a book I end up returning to. Like Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray, I've loved reading or listening to it 3 times now, over the years, and I'm sure I'll be back again.

 

[4DQSAR]

I lay on the narrow wood bench, twisting from one side to the other. My body was raw, twitching, tumescent, the junk-frozen flesh in agonizing thaw. I turned over on my stomach and one leg slipped off the bench. I pitched forward and the rounded edge of the bench, polished smooth by the friction of cloth, slid along my crotch. There was a sudden rush of blood to the genitals at the slippery contact. Sparks exploded behind my eyes; my legs twitched—the orgasm of a hanged man when the neck snaps.

The 103rd Street boys were all oldtimers—thin, sallow faces; bitter, twisted mouths; stiff-fingered, stylized gestures. (There is a junk gesture that marks the junkie like the limp wrist marks the fag: the hand swings out from the elbow stiff-fingered, palm up.) They were of various nationalities and physical types, but they all looked alike somehow. They all looked like junk. There was Irish, George the Greek, Pantopon Rose, Louie the Bellhop, Eric the Fag, the Beagle, the Sailor, and Joe the Mex. Several of them are dead now, others are doing time. There are no more junkies at 103rd and Broadway waiting for the connection. The connection has gone somewhere else. But the feel of junk is still there. It hits you at the corner, follows you along the block, then falls away like a discouraged panhandler as you walk on.

Isn't that an extract from 'Junkie' by William S. Burroughs?

He's an interesting writer because 'The Yage Letters' is one step stranger and then of course 'The Naked Lunch' is... surreal.

Later works I found a bit of a mixed bag - although I expect by design you are left with more questions than answers. But all are worth reading.