This week’s recommended books.
I’m recommending 3-5 books a week at my new mailing list which you can sign up for here. No spam, just books.
“Songbook” by Nick Hornby
($26, McSweeney’s Books, 147 pages in Hardcover)
I’m pretty sure I’ve recommended this book before and it’s still a bit too expensive for my blood but I can’t help myself. Nick Hornby has done a fantastic little book about his favorite songs, a 3 or 4 page essay on each. Comes with a CD with some of those songs but you’re better off reading this one next to your computer so can download the hundreds of tunes Hornby mentions so lovingly.
Old readers of my swill will now that I have my issues with Hornby’s fictional style. But as a music critic, he’s just plain sublime. He writes as a 45 year-old divorce’ with a kid, which I think describes most rock critics even though they still think they’re 19 and working at the college radio station. Plus Hornby addresses music snobbery head on and calls himself an unabashed pop fan without apology. A listener after my own heart.
“Rory & Ita” by Roddy Doyle ($23.95, Viking, 352 pages in Hardcover)
Roddy Doyle is perhaps my favorite fiction author, one of the few out there where I’ve read every one of his books. If you’re not familiar with Mr. Doyle, you probably are with the movies based on his books, “The Commitments”, “The Snapper” and “The Van.” This is first non-fiction book, a memoir of his parents, how they met at a New Years dance in 1947 and raised a bunch of kids in the surburbs of the Irish capitol.
I don’t have any idea if Roy & Ita Doyle are interesting people or not but I have a feeling that A) they are and B) if not, their son Roddy will make them that way. He hasn’t let me down yet and I don’t expect him to this time.
“Motherless Brooklyn” by Jonathan Lethem
($13.00, 311 pages, Vintage Paperback)
My friend Nina has been on me to read this one for several months now. When I saw her in Austin last week and she gently reminded me that I had promised, I moved it right to the front of the Nightable line. She’s about the 5 person to insist I read this book. Finally I’m listening.
I guess I’ve been hesitant because Lethem has big Pomo cred which almost always means an author’s work is unreadable or as pleasent to dive into as swimming pool without water. And for pete’s sakes, it’s a crime novel about a detective with Tourettes Syndrome. Yet my buddy Dave, who doesn’t have much patience for thicket and bramble narratives either, said “you’ll finish it in a day.” I’m gonna give it a try.
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10 Replies to “This week’s recommended books.”
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All these sound great. I’m reading Roddy Doyle’s “A Star Called Henry” which is good so far. “Motherless Brooklyn” sounds interesting. A detective with Tourette’s? That’s funny. I know a woman who’s a documentary filmmaker and on her last film, she found out the cameraman had Tourette’s! Lots of editing needed to fix the jerky camera, I think!! 🙂
All these sound great. I’m reading Roddy Doyle’s “A Star Called Henry” which is good so far. “Motherless Brooklyn” sounds interesting. A detective with Tourette’s? That’s funny. I know a woman who’s a documentary filmmaker and on her last film, she found out the cameraman had Tourette’s! Lots of editing needed to fix the jerky camera, I think!! 🙂
Yeah James, “Star Called Henry” is the harshest thing he’s ever written. Supposedly part of a trilogy but I guess he took a break to do R & I first.
Yeah James, “Star Called Henry” is the harshest thing he’s ever written. Supposedly part of a trilogy but I guess he took a break to do R & I first.
Chalk up one more vote for “Motherless Brooklyn.” It’s simply a fun and entertaining read. If you act now, you can be one of the cool kids who has read the book before it becomes the movie starring Ed Norton. Also, I’ve heard that Lethem’s description of dealing with Tourette’s was so on the mark that those afflicted thought he was a fellow sufferer.
Chalk up one more vote for “Motherless Brooklyn.” It’s simply a fun and entertaining read. If you act now, you can be one of the cool kids who has read the book before it becomes the movie starring Ed Norton. Also, I’ve heard that Lethem’s description of dealing with Tourette’s was so on the mark that those afflicted thought he was a fellow sufferer.
I’ve been sitting on a copy of “Motherless Brooklyn” for more than a year that my uncle gave me as a x-mas gift. Now I’ll read it, I guess. Thanks.
I’ve been sitting on a copy of “Motherless Brooklyn” for more than a year that my uncle gave me as a x-mas gift. Now I’ll read it, I guess. Thanks.
My pleasure Jeff.
My pleasure Jeff.