books to read

[fakie nollie]

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If anyone has any similar recommendations, let me know. I think I'm going to try to pick up that "Please Kill Me" book thats like a history of early punk. Looks pretty similar and has good reviews, plus I'm a but more into those early bands than the "Meet me in the Bathroom" bands.

[close]

If you're more into those early bands (like I am) definitely read Please Kill Me next. I thought it was much better than Meet Me in the Bathroom (although I did enjoy that as well). Please Kill Me is just packed with interesting (and gnarly) stories, while I found Meet Me in the Bathroom to have sections I didn't much care about (like Vampire Weekend, for instance). I mean, Please Kill Me is worth reading just for the Iggy stories. Honestly can't believe that dude is still alive.

Our Band Could Be Your Life is also good, as others mentioned. There is also an L.A. version of Please Kill Me called We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk. It's also an oral history book. But I haven't read it yet so I can't really comment on it. 

[close]

I looked for Please Kill Me at the local library but they didn't have it. I put it on my Xmas list though, so hopefully I'll get to read it soon.



This book almost jumped off the shelf at me though. I'm obviously way too young to have experienced this place, but it played a big role in the Stooges and MC5's success, so I figured I had to read it. I've also been a big fan of the gig posters that were made in the late 60's and early 70's from the Grande for years. It wasn't the best book though. Fairly short read, but you had to get almost half way though before any mention of rock n roll. In my opinion it focused too deeply on all the owners, architects, promoters and not enough on musicians. I was hoping of hearing stories about the music, but 90% of the book was just stories about the building and the people who ran it. Not a bad book, but probably not for anyone outside of Detroit unless you've got a real love for late 60's Detroit rock music.



Working my way though this right now. I'm not a huge RHCP fan, but I dig some of their stuff. My wife bought the book years ago and I found it in the basement when I was looking for something to read. It's actually really good so far. I've read though his childhood and he's about 18-19 where I'm at now. No band yet, but he's already living a wild life. The dude was doing quaaludes and coke and fucking adult women when he was in middle school.

[close]

Ignoring FakieNollie's demographic comment haha I really liked Scar tissue, I read it a few years ago and in terms of music biographies it's one of my favourites. It's kind of nuts how when he gets off drugs he just decides to stop and basically could spend years off before deciding to jump back in. Great read though with some of his experiences

Hey hey, no jabs at anyone here who read it. I did like the book. Again, I think the reading level better suits a younger audience because, well, the author was taking quaaludes and high on coke while his brain was developing, lol.

[Deputy Wendell]

"I'd never felt so useless as I did amid all those bullets in the sunlight...

...A vast and universal mockery....That colonel, I could see, was a monster. Now I knew it for sure, he was worse than a dog, he couldn't conceive of his own death. At the same time I realized that there must be plenty of brave men like him in our army, and just as many no doubt in the army facing us. How many I wondered. One or two million, say several millions in all? The thought turned my fear to panic. With such people this infernal lunacy could go on for ever...

...Could I, I thought, be the last coward on earth?

How terrifying!...All alone with two million stark raving heroic madmen, armed to the eyeballs?...With and without helmets, without horses, on motorcycles, bellowing, in cars, screeching, shooting, plotting, flying, kneeling, digging, taking cover, bounding over trails, sputtering, shut up on earth as if it were a loony bin, ready to demolish everything on it, Germany, France, whole continents, everything that breathes, destroy, destroy, madder than mad dogs, worshipping their madness (which dogs don’t), a hundred, a thousand times madder than a thousand dogs, and a lot more vicious!

...Men are the thing to be afraid of, always, men and nothing else."

[Carrolls Chesthairs]

currently checked out. Most of these were mentioned from this thread; shout out if you posted about it.





Just finished this:

[MichaelJacksonsGhost]

Cranked through A Farewell to Arms and then read White Teeth. White Teeth was good, but it seemed lazy in the last hundred pages or so. I wish she would have held the stride she had in the first 3/4s and made the ending more worth while. Also read A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, which was great. I’ve got Brief Interviews With Hideous Men on my shelf and I’m probably gonna dig into that soon. I’m reading Anna Karenina now, and man, it’s really holding up to the hype built around it. Characters are all so well developed and Tolstoy was clearly committed to writing something all the way through.

[JB]

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If anyone has any similar recommendations, let me know. I think I'm going to try to pick up that "Please Kill Me" book thats like a history of early punk. Looks pretty similar and has good reviews, plus I'm a but more into those early bands than the "Meet me in the Bathroom" bands.

[close]

If you're more into those early bands (like I am) definitely read Please Kill Me next. I thought it was much better than Meet Me in the Bathroom (although I did enjoy that as well). Please Kill Me is just packed with interesting (and gnarly) stories, while I found Meet Me in the Bathroom to have sections I didn't much care about (like Vampire Weekend, for instance). I mean, Please Kill Me is worth reading just for the Iggy stories. Honestly can't believe that dude is still alive.

Our Band Could Be Your Life is also good, as others mentioned. There is also an L.A. version of Please Kill Me called We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk. It's also an oral history book. But I haven't read it yet so I can't really comment on it. 

[close]

I looked for Please Kill Me at the local library but they didn't have it. I put it on my Xmas list though, so hopefully I'll get to read it soon.



This book almost jumped off the shelf at me though. I'm obviously way too young to have experienced this place, but it played a big role in the Stooges and MC5's success, so I figured I had to read it. I've also been a big fan of the gig posters that were made in the late 60's and early 70's from the Grande for years. It wasn't the best book though. Fairly short read, but you had to get almost half way though before any mention of rock n roll. In my opinion it focused too deeply on all the owners, architects, promoters and not enough on musicians. I was hoping of hearing stories about the music, but 90% of the book was just stories about the building and the people who ran it. Not a bad book, but probably not for anyone outside of Detroit unless you've got a real love for late 60's Detroit rock music.



Working my way though this right now. I'm not a huge RHCP fan, but I dig some of their stuff. My wife bought the book years ago and I found it in the basement when I was looking for something to read. It's actually really good so far. I've read though his childhood and he's about 18-19 where I'm at now. No band yet, but he's already living a wild life. The dude was doing quaaludes and coke and fucking adult women when he was in middle school.

[close]

Ignoring FakieNollie's demographic comment haha I really liked Scar tissue, I read it a few years ago and in terms of music biographies it's one of my favourites. It's kind of nuts how when he gets off drugs he just decides to stop and basically could spend years off before deciding to jump back in. Great read though with some of his experiences

[close]

Hey hey, no jabs at anyone here who read it. I did like the book. Again, I think the reading level better suits a younger audience because, well, the author was taking quaaludes and high on coke while his brain was developing, lol.

No offense taken, I was just kidding.

Book was alright. It seemed like after they put out BSSM, the story just kept repeating itself. Get clean > relapse > get clean > relapse, on and on and on. The story about him going on that crazy trip through the Jungle and almost dying was pretty wild though. There were other good stories and adventures peppered in all throughout, but the drugs definitely got tiring.

I'm also curious about how much money he ran though in this time span because it seemed like he had an endless supply. Probably blew millions on rehab alone.

[Alan]

Again, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, I recommend people read this account of imprisonment in Auschwitz by one of the few survivors, Primo Levi. I think it's the best one out of all other survivor memoirs (Wiesel, Nyiszli, etc.).

[oyolar]

Cranked through A Farewell to Arms and then read White Teeth. White Teeth was good, but it seemed lazy in the last hundred pages or so. I wish she would have held the stride she had in the first 3/4s and made the ending more worth while. Also read A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, which was great. I’ve got Brief Interviews With Hideous Men on my shelf and I’m probably gonna dig into that soon. I’m reading Anna Karenina now, and man, it’s really holding up to the hype built around it. Characters are all so well developed and Tolstoy was clearly committed to writing something all the way through.

I’m a fan of DFW’s non-fiction but found Brief Interviews... not particularly memorable. It was fine but that’s kind of it.

[MichaelJacksonsGhost]

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Cranked through A Farewell to Arms and then read White Teeth. White Teeth was good, but it seemed lazy in the last hundred pages or so. I wish she would have held the stride she had in the first 3/4s and made the ending more worth while. Also read A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, which was great. I’ve got Brief Interviews With Hideous Men on my shelf and I’m probably gonna dig into that soon. I’m reading Anna Karenina now, and man, it’s really holding up to the hype built around it. Characters are all so well developed and Tolstoy was clearly committed to writing something all the way through.

[close]

I’m a fan of DFW’s non-fiction but found Brief Interviews... not particularly memorable. It was one but that’s kind of it.

What sort of criticisms would you lob at the book? Have you read any of his other fiction stuff?

[RCB3]

Just finished The Emerald Mile and it was wonderful. Such a wild story and so much research put into it. Would definitely recommend it, especially if you have any connection to river rafting.

[oyolar]

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Cranked through A Farewell to Arms and then read White Teeth. White Teeth was good, but it seemed lazy in the last hundred pages or so. I wish she would have held the stride she had in the first 3/4s and made the ending more worth while. Also read A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, which was great. I’ve got Brief Interviews With Hideous Men on my shelf and I’m probably gonna dig into that soon. I’m reading Anna Karenina now, and man, it’s really holding up to the hype built around it. Characters are all so well developed and Tolstoy was clearly committed to writing something all the way through.

[close]

I’m a fan of DFW’s non-fiction but found Brief Interviews... not particularly memorable. It was fine but that’s kind of it.

[close]

What sort of criticisms would you lob at the book? Have you read any of his other fiction stuff?

I’ve read The Broom of the System but none of his other story collections. Admittedly, I’m not the biggest shirt story person out there but I didn’t feel much of a desire to continue down his short story path after finishing Brief Interviews. It wasn’t particularly bad, it just wasn’t memorable to me. It felt like too self-consciously clever and overwrought kind of? The classic DFW critique where it seems like he’s writing more to show how smart and clever he is than to tell the story he needs to tell.

Infinite Jest is still on my list of books to read though. Maybe this year finally.

[roy742547]

'Mans Search for Meaning' - Viktor Frankl

This is an incredible book written by a Jewish psychiatrist who lived/survived through the concentration camps in WW2 - so has a pretty unique perspective on some deep aspects of human behaviour.

For me, the key message it drives home is the point that a lot of our happiness is derived from our need to feel as though what we are doing in life is worthwhile - even if we are suffering now, we can fight through it if we think that the suffering is worthwhile.

A really good example that struck a chord with me in the book is where an old man goes to the author suffering from depression after the loss of his wife of many decades. The author pointed out that if he had passed away before her, then she would have had to face the pain that he was facing now - therefore by suffering himself, he was actually saving her from the same suffering - this change in perspective gave meaning to his suffering and thus made it infinitely more tolerable.

Examples aside - I think this is an incredible book that's that's well worth a look, with a huge number of insightful observations on human behaviour, motivation and needs.

[euro tm]

i finished please kill me recently and it’s definitely my favorite book i’ve ever read.

also just started patti smith’s book called just kids and so far it’s amazing.

[Peter Zagreus]

Just stopping by to mention that I read some Flannery O'Connor today and it was good, as always.

[rocklobster]

Decided to put the game controller down and use the Kindle my wife got for me. Started myself off with a softball to get the vibe going.

Just finished When Breath Becomes Air - pretty good, easy enough to finish. A good look at how we tackle life with the specter of cancer looming over you.

I'll start on Brave New World tonight.

[JB]

Decided to put the game controller down and use the Kindle my wife got for me. Started myself off with a softball to get the vibe going.

Just finished When Breath Becomes Air - pretty good, easy enough to finish. A good look at how we tackle life with the specter of cancer looming over you.

I'll start on Brave New World tonight.

I checked out 1984 while I was waiting for Please Kill Me to be shipped over from another library. I was assigned to read 1984 in high school, but I don't think I read a single page because I didn't remember any of it. No idea how I passed the class. Anyway, I really enjoyed it and wish I would've read it sooner. Brave New World is on my list too, but I've got a few others to get through first. I'm trying to space out what kind of books I'm reading so I don't get burnt out on any particular style.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through Please Kill Me now. It's a fun read, very similar to Meet Me in the Bathroom, but darker. You can tell that the younger generation of musicians in MMitBR were a bit more reserved when recalling all the debauchery that went on. These guys from the 70's, they don't give a fuck. All the nazi shit that seemed to be totally normal was a real shocker to me. I knew a bit about this, but the degree to which so many guys were into like 13-16 year old girls is totally fucked up too. And it's all recalled totally shamelessly. Definitely gave me a sour taste in my mouth.

I've got Jenny O'dell's How To Do Nothing on deck. I watched this talk and her views seemed really intriguing and the book has been pretty well reviewed so I'm excited to dive into that.

[Glue Reed]

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If anyone has any similar recommendations, let me know. I think I'm going to try to pick up that "Please Kill Me" book thats like a history of early punk. Looks pretty similar and has good reviews, plus I'm a but more into those early bands than the "Meet me in the Bathroom" bands.

[close]

If you're more into those early bands (like I am) definitely read Please Kill Me next. I thought it was much better than Meet Me in the Bathroom (although I did enjoy that as well). Please Kill Me is just packed with interesting (and gnarly) stories, while I found Meet Me in the Bathroom to have sections I didn't much care about (like Vampire Weekend, for instance). I mean, Please Kill Me is worth reading just for the Iggy stories. Honestly can't believe that dude is still alive.

Our Band Could Be Your Life is also good, as others mentioned. There is also an L.A. version of Please Kill Me called We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk. It's also an oral history book. But I haven't read it yet so I can't really comment on it.

Get Lexicon Devil: Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash.  It is by far my favorite punk 'interview style' book.  It does an excellent job painting a picture of the earliest formation of the LA punk scene and where all those fucking weirdo's came from, and how they got that way.  Tons of truly bizarre, unique individuals that created this amazing scene before hardcore came in and ruined it.

We Got the Neutron Bomb is a decent book but leaves a lot out.. mostly because there is just way too much to cover in L.A. punk.  It's definitely worth reading if you are a fan, though.

If you're looking for books about the formation of punk (like the ground covered in Please Kill Me), you'd really like From Velvets to Voidoids.  Gives a really detailed perspective of the creation of American punk, but unlike PKM it talks about Cleveland and Boston which was happening at the same time.  The writer is a little biased, but still a good read.

Also check out Under The Black Sun, by John Doe of X.  Great book about the early LA scene, but different then the Darby Crash book as it covers different regions in LA.  Each chapter is written by a different person;  someone who was there as a musician, writer, fan, filmmaker, etc.. 

[JB]

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If anyone has any similar recommendations, let me know. I think I'm going to try to pick up that "Please Kill Me" book thats like a history of early punk. Looks pretty similar and has good reviews, plus I'm a but more into those early bands than the "Meet me in the Bathroom" bands.

[close]

If you're more into those early bands (like I am) definitely read Please Kill Me next. I thought it was much better than Meet Me in the Bathroom (although I did enjoy that as well). Please Kill Me is just packed with interesting (and gnarly) stories, while I found Meet Me in the Bathroom to have sections I didn't much care about (like Vampire Weekend, for instance). I mean, Please Kill Me is worth reading just for the Iggy stories. Honestly can't believe that dude is still alive.

Our Band Could Be Your Life is also good, as others mentioned. There is also an L.A. version of Please Kill Me called We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk. It's also an oral history book. But I haven't read it yet so I can't really comment on it.

[close]

Get Lexicon Devil: Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash.  It is by far my favorite punk 'interview style' book.  It does an excellent job painting a picture of the earliest formation of the LA punk scene and where all those fucking weirdo's came from, and how they got that way.  Tons of truly bizarre, unique individuals that created this amazing scene before hardcore came in and ruined it.

We Got the Neutron Bomb is a decent book but leaves a lot out.. mostly because there is just way too much to cover in L.A. punk.  It's definitely worth reading if you are a fan, though.

If you're looking for books about the formation of punk (like the ground covered in Please Kill Me), you'd really like From Velvets to Voidoids.  Gives a really detailed perspective of the creation of American punk, but unlike PKM it talks about Cleveland and Boston which was happening at the same time.  The writer is a little biased, but still a good read.

Also check out Under The Black Sun, by John Doe of X.  Great book about the early LA scene, but different then the Darby Crash book as it covers different regions in LA.  Each chapter is written by a different person;  someone who was there as a musician, writer, fan, filmmaker, etc.. 

I'll give those a shot. What I liked about MMITBR is that it covered a really wide range of bands, and while PKM is a bit more intense, it's really only focused on a small handful of bands. I like just about every band featured in PKM, but I kept hoping that it would branch off and start talking about people outside of the Ramones/Dolls/Stooges/Velvets/Pistols crowds. I remember getting to a chapter called "The Fall" and thinking "Awesome, we get some Mark E. Smith now" but it was about Patti Smith falling off a stage.

Anyone have any suggestions for some post-punk focused books? I read the 33 1/3 book on Wire's Pink Flag and I enjoyed that for a quick history of the album. Personally, it was those years in the late 70s/early 80's that produced most of my favorite albums. I love rock n roll, but I feel like things really started getting interesting in punk once they started trying to take the rock n roll out of it.

[baggy spandex]

I've got Jenny O'dell's How To Do Nothing on deck. I watched this talk and her views seemed really intriguing and the book has been pretty well reviewed so I'm excited to dive into that.

Thanks for sharing that talk. I hadn't heard of her book and now I really want to read it.

[patrick c.]

Sorry if it's been posted already but I just found out about Golden Gates by Conor Dougherty(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/14/books/review/golden-gates-housing-conor-dougherty.html). Really hyped to read it and turns out the author skates:

[KoRnholio8]

disclaimer: i've become a huge fan of NOFX a few years ago and I like them more each year

I am half done with their autobiography and it is waaay gnarlier than what I imagined from their goofy performances. Definitely a page-turner

[drewsmahgoos]

Just started Infinite Jest the other day. I'm very much enjoying it at the moment. Wallace has a great writing style. Really fun read. Big book but I usually read larger books anyway. I'm a huge fan of Russian Lit and usually read something by a Russian and then an easier, usually sci fi novel in between. But, Infinite Jest has been on my to read list for way too long now.

[theresnothinghere]

https://www.google.com/search?q=the+butch+manual&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS799US799&sxsrf=ALeKk02OPw04J-IhIrCLUkrHrq1EVoL4iw:1585719572324&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiMhsnewcboAhWMZ80KHdA8AiUQ_AUoAXoECBUQAw&biw=1280&bih=666#imgrc=KMm72s7RJE14jM

Picked this up and recommend for any fellow fags with a sense of humor.

[Dr-Feelgood]

halfway through this book and im really enjoying it

[Peter Zagreus]

Trying to get into sci-fi again. Can't tell if this is good yet.

Hobby horse.

[AnotherHardDayAtTheOffice]

Due to the Corona pandemic, it's time for books again. Maybe one of the few perks there are.

This book won the German Prize for Literature. It's about identity, migration and his grandmother's fading memory due to Alzheimer's disease. The author fled from Bosnia with his family when he was a child. He publicly contradicted Peter Handke's insane statements about genocide in former Yugoslavia when he was awarded the Nobel Prize last year. A translation of Stanisic's book isn't available yet, but when it is, I strongly recommend it!



Trevor Noah is one of my favorite comedians and I absolutely loved his memoir. Funny, sad, moving, smart. Absolute page turner.



Bill Bryson is hilarious and this book about Shakespeare is no exception. His thesis is that "every Shakespeare biography is five percent fact and 95 percent speculation". He sums up sources and claims about Shakespeare's life and while he dismisses conspiracy theories about Shakespeare's authorship, he shows that scholars have come up with all sorts of wild claims about Shakespeare as a person and writer, solely based on a handful of documents.



Currently reading Egan's book and I really like it so far. I haven't seen any mentions of her around here, even though people shouldn't be too far from her book's target group (postmodern fiction, music and Punk rock).



Next up, like everyone else, I'll be reading this before watching the Netflix series. I literally got the last English-speaking copy available on Amazon Germany (I know, I know... usually I do support local bookstores).



So... what are y'all currently reading?

[Alan]

Adding the Egan book to my list, ta!

At the moment, I'm reading quite light fare fiction wise, Angels in the Moonlight by Caimh McDonnell. The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa is up next (thanks to Rich who recommended it here!). I read the first few pages the other day and I'm into it already.

[behavioralguide]

read a bunch of stuff but most has been mentioned earlier,
didnt see anyone talk about this one so:

Seven brief lessons on physics by Carlo Rovelli;
talks about/ explains things like the general theory of relativity, quanta, time, probabilty and heat etc.
Really (really) well written and only about 80 pages without feeling dense,
definitly recommend.




could anyone recommend me some (good) literary thrillers? having a bit of a readers- block down here in my cabin.
preferably something modern contemporary(post 2000)

[Abyss1]

read a bunch of stuff but most has been mentioned earlier,
didnt see anyone talk about this one so:

Seven brief lessons on physics by Carlo Rovelli;
talks about/ explains things like the general theory of relativity, quanta, time, probabilty and heat etc.
Really (really) well written and only about 80 pages without feeling dense,
definitly recommend.




could anyone recommend me some (good) literary thrillers? having a bit of a readers- block down here in my cabin.
preferably something modern contemporary(post 2000)

I just finished this if youre into physics, it's hard to follow at times when he goes into spin theory but overall is easy to digest, and if youre watching DEVS than it helps context the show

[childhood]

I'm Thinking of Ending Things is a really good suspenseful horror-thriller type book, I'm about to start re-reading it actually. It's semi-recent too.

https://wetransfer.com/downloads/cfb43b893890d5ab04813322743b24b020200406164012/ef37387e37f3174cb67570f7856eed1120200406164038/780696
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_Thinking_of_Ending_Things

[tedwhigham]

1984 and Catch 22