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Have started this as a quick snack before the other Updikes arrive. Got it in a big pile of Murakami's from the local Charity shop.
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He seems very different from the guy I imagined after reading some of his novels. It talks about the process of writing also, which is very instructive as I have started to do so again, in a much more structured,consistent and considered way.
I have bought the David Hayes,s book making haye I will start reading it today.
I'm reading a Suede biography that finally got put onto the Kindle. It is written by David Barnett and I am enjoying it so far. It's a book I have wanted to read for a long time.
I had a long weekend of travel by car so I invested in a book on CD. I usually tire of music or talk radio after a while. On this trip I picked out 'Proof of Heaven' by Dr. Eben Alexander who is a neurosurgeon who experienced a grand mall seizure during a bout with bacterial meningitis and spent 7 days in a coma with his brain basically inactive.
It is a fascinating account and is a good read/listen for all people religious or not
The Talisman by Lynda LA Plante.
She writes as good as any top novelist, hard to put it down.
Reading Haye’s book halfway through and it is interesting. Haye has a son named Cassius, he wanted desperately avenge his defeat against Carl Thompson but the money could not be arranged, and Haye loves his boxing history and never really developed his left hook like Sugar Ray Robinson.
Finished the Murakami now. Can't really say it gives too much insight into his personality but it was an interesting distraction. I have now started this, the fourth and final book in John Updike's Rabbit tetralogyQuote:
Originally Posted by Greenbeanz
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Rabbit at Rest is great so far, and he does not seem to have let his brilliant prose fall below the bar he raised so high, with the previous three books. It is set in the late 80's, early 90's and the central character is now in his mid 50's. Not a lot happens but the books do not need a plot to hold your attention. It is Updike's acute observation of people and their reaction to the world around them that pulls you through it. Harry Angstrom the central character is constantly amazed and confused by everything that happens. Not just the external world but his own body and the condition of being, what it is to be a human living in a body that is gradually sinking back down to the earth from which it came. He is not J.G.Ballard but I would definitely have him in my top 5. Great stuff.
.....pretentious Brits naming their offspring after American greats :-XQuote:
Originally Posted by Master
I will read the rest and let you know what he thinks of the yanks.Quote:
Originally Posted by El Kabong.....pretentious Brits naming their offspring after American greats :-XQuote:
Originally Posted by Master
Pffft he hasn't really fought any decent ones...Ruiz and Barrett are the only ones I recall him fighting so he really doesn't have much to comment on.Quote:
Originally Posted by MasterI will read the rest and let you know what he thinks of the yanks.Quote:
Originally Posted by El Kabong.....pretentious Brits naming their offspring after American greats :-XQuote:
Originally Posted by Master
Im currently reading The Book Of Five Rings by Miyamoto Mushashi..
Just wanna let ya know.. No Knights, Spartan Warrior, nor Achilles himself can fuck with Musashi in a one on one duel.. none
I finally got through that Hitch book, but it was really long and obviously a lot to talk about in a career like that. It got really sad towards the final decade. Time was running out, his health was failing and he wanted to make his 'realistic' Bond 'The Short Night'. However his wife had a series of strokes, Hitchcock himself was failing and falling over in the bathroom. Still he clung to the dream that he could win over the fans again, but it was never going to happen. He seemed to have given up on life in the end. Even if the script were finished, he wouldn't be able to shoot it himself. His wife now declining with dementia and Hitchcock seeming to have lost the will to live. And apparently that is what he did. We willed himself to death by refusing meals, drinking only water and talking to nobody. Eventually it happened. His wife lived on for 2 more years seemingly not noticing the death. 'Oh Hitch is out at the studio. Back later'. Very odd.
Anyway, a great, exhaustive book, excellently researched. Imo the most important director of them all. A talented, talented filmmaker.
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Charles Bukowski - Notes of a Dirty Old Man.
It's a collection of his newspaper columns. Just started reading it today.
Watch out UK crowd I'm on the cusp of becoming a learned scholar on your empire
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FinitoElDinamita
Cool as.:cool:
The Book of Five Rings (五輪書 Go Rin No Sho?) is a text on kenjutsu and the martial arts in general, written by the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi circa 1645. There have been various translations made over the years, and it enjoys an audience considerably broader than only that of martial artists: for instance, some business leaders find its discussion of conflict and taking the advantage to be relevant to their work. The modern-day Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū employs it as a manual of technique and philosophy.
Musashi establishes a "no-nonsense" theme throughout the text. For instance, he repeatedly remarks that technical flourishes are excessive, and contrasts worrying about such things with the principle that all technique is simply a method of cutting down one's opponent. He also continually makes the point that the understandings expressed in the book are important for combat on any scale, whether a one-on-one duel or a massive battle. Descriptions of principles are often followed by admonitions to "investigate this thoroughly" through practice rather than trying to learn them by merely reading.
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Miyamoto Musashi in his prime, wielding two bokken.
Musashi describes and advocates a two-sword style (nitōjutsu): that is, wielding both katana and wakizashi, contrary to the more traditional method of wielding the katana two-handed. However, he only explicitly describes wielding two swords in a section on fighting against many adversaries. The stories of his many duels rarely reference Musashi himself wielding two swords, although, since they are mostly oral traditions, their details may be rather inaccurate. Some suggest that Musashi's meaning was not so much wielding two swords "simultaneously", but rather acquiring the proficiency to (singly) wield either sword in either hand as the need arose.[citation needed] However, Musashi states within the volume that one should train with a long sword in each hand, thereby training the body and improving one's ability to use two blades simultaneously, though the aim of this was only for training purposes and wasn't meant to be a viable fighting style.