Hello, hello.

I'm approaching the end of Mr Kershaw's fine book and I'm thinking what next to move onto. I've got three fairly specific categories and was hoping you fine people would be able to help, they are:

A book on soul music. A previous thread recommended Peter Guralnik - sweet soul music which I can pick up from the library, would this be a wise move?

Foreign correspondent. Andy's chapter on Rwanda especially interested me so it got me wondering what books were out there written by journalists working out in high risk arreas.

Elvis Costello. I'm sure this is the perfect place to ask for EC advice.

Maybe a book about VU. Is James Young's book any good? I know it's not specifically about VU but i guess it must cover some good ground.

Cheers

I would have posted this in the Reads review section but I can't (or won't?) conform to the headings.

"Should have been the definitive book on Steve Jobs
The computer technology industries of Silicon Valley are fascinating to read about. And Steve Jobs in particular, along with his company Apple, are very fascinating. So this book, if competently assembled, was pretty much guaranteed to be at the very least a very interesting read. And potentially a masterpiece.

It's a well written book but it's not the definitive work on the subject. It's too prosaic a retelling of his story. Prosaic is not bad, as it's very readable and entertaining. It's just not the last word. I found some of the reporting to be a bit superficial and lacking in detail. For example I remember watching a TV documentary about the Apple Mac being created. This book didn't add anything substantial to what I learned from that programme all those years ago. I've also read extensively about the creation of the iPod. The book skims through its creation and leaves a fair amount of information out. So who knows what else it leaves out?

That Jobs was interviewed extensively for the book is not as big a plus as I expected. He doesn't really have much of interest to say for himself. He explains his motives, thinking and opinions on everything, but I didn't feel he had any great insight that was essential for his story to be told.

The book has its chapters sub-divided into mini-chapters with headings for what the subject is about. It makes the book easy to read, reduces the feeling of sprawl and should make re-reading specifics sections very easy if you want to dip in and out of it in future. It's very reference friendly - which might be why getting the thick, heavy hard copy might be preferable to the digital copy?

I estimate that it took me seventeen hours to read.

It's a very interesting book on two fascinating subjects (the man and his company). I strongly recommend it, although I expect a better book to appear in a few years that builds on these foundations."

It looks like Rob Young's excellent book, 'Electric Eden : Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music', has been reissued. On a wet afternoon I put together a Spotify playlist based on the books discography. It's long and varied but, then again, the book covers over 100 years of music.
Here's the playlist for anyone who's interested - and do get the book. You won't regret it.

http://open.spotify.com/user/jazzdoctor/playlist/3Zw0CuEuGuJ6Zd0KA51mK3

Have any of you read Christos Tsiolkas' "The Slap"? According to the reviews, it's the must-read book of the summer, but 101 people (at the latest count) have gone out of their way to give it a 1 star review on Amazon.

Thinking of taking it on holiday with me, so feedback welcome.

Found a book called Where Did Our Love Go? The Rise And Fall Of The Motown Sound by Nelson George at the library. Has anyone read it? Is it any good?

I've had a Kindle for a few weeks now and am very pleased with it. One of the first books I read was 'Rivers of London' by Ben Aaronovich. A good and enjoyable fantasy read so I thought I'd splash out on his new one 'Moon Over Soho'. Just checked on Amazon and the hardback and paperback price ( £6.49 and £6.84 respectively ) are LESS THAN the Kindle edition price ( £6.99 ). i thought the whole idea of eBook pricing was that it would be positioned below physical book prices. Hopefully, this is not a sign of things to come.

Two case histories.

Subject one is Mr Water Cup. He reads books each day for about three hours and is a fairly fast reader. He once read a dense 500 page military history book in about three or four days.

Subject two is Mr Stapler (insert the joke from The Nightfly liner notes). He reads books for about five hours a week and would class himself as a fairly slow reader. He also read the same 500 page military history book as Mr Water Cup, but it took him about three weeks to finish it.

Mr Water Cup has an extensive history of re-reading his books, and has to keep every book incase he wants to re-read anything. He also claims to often re-read all previous entries in an ongoing series before the publication of the next part. Which if true means he will read parts one to nine of THICK fantasy novels when part ten is published.

Mr Stapler reads a book once and then will almost never re-read that book again. He gives away about half of his books and the rest are either too good to get rid of, or are used for dipping in and out of as reference material (for example he might watch a movie or listen to an album, and will then re-read the appropriate pages in a biography).

Mr Water Cup's need, and ability, to re-read the same books might come from his quick turnover of reading material. Perhaps he is not fully engaging with the text and is just superficially skipping over it? Which means it fades from his memory after about a week. As he has a very poor memory of it he finds it useful and easy to re-read the same book more than a few times.

Mr Stapler instead, as he is a slow reader and does not devote a lot of time to it, perhaps engages more fully with a book. He seems to be able to retain a decent impression in his memory of pertinent details of every book he has read, which due to his age so far goes back to about a decade and a half later. This renders a second read into a chore that he has no interest in undertaking unless he really, really wants to.

How much do you read, at what speed and how much do you remember X months later? Do you re-read books, and if so how often?

This was sparked by a memoir (Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer) about competing in a memory championship which Mr Stapler recently read. Two weeks later and he can still remember the big overall picture of what happens in the book.

I've just had an e-mail full of recommendations from Amazon.

It begins.....

'As you've shown an interest in books....'

I love it.

I guess we are largely of one mind on this but isn't it great when you have a moment where a piece of art; TV, music, film,a book, whatever reaches out and really speaks to you.
I had a moment like that with a particular scene from Alan Ball's Six Feet Under a few years ago and recently tracked down the clip which is attached here. The back story doesn't really matter. All you need to know is that the father (the guy in the suit)is dead and is talking to his son who is still alive.

There are no doubt great truths contained in the various holy books of the great religions as well as the acknowledged greats of literature. But I'm talking about the inspired and inspirational moments from the more prosaic end of artistic endeavour.
No doubt you will have your own examples.

Was walking past Kings Cross the other day contemplating how the immediate area around the station had changed, when I remembered a rail journey I’d made up north some years ago which had terminated there.

It was a cold and rainy Sunday night as I arrived back in London, and as the train pulled in I’d literally just finished the last page of Orwell’s 1984. Think the combination of the book, the awful weather, time of night and a nigh-on empty train had left me feeling pretty melancholy as I disembarked.

I was pretty new to the city and must have wandered out of a station side exit only to find myself in a deserted street lined by old railway arches. It had started to rain quite hard now and there wasn’t anyone else around. I could hear the metallic echo of the station tannoy making its last announcements and paused to work out where I was.

Filled with thoughts of Orwell’s stark totalitarian future, I had the strangest feeling, stood there looking up and down such a bleak scene – with the few streetlights flickering in the rain and rubbish strewn everywhere. Then to top it all off a police helicopter buzzed overhead, its searchlight dancing around the tops of the buildings in the backstreets.

That was me straight off. Anyone else had an out-of-book experience?

Is there even the remotest possibility this book will reveal something we don´t already know from countless interviews?

Drugs, Jagger is a wanker, Charlie is my man, being a "rebel", being kindhearted despite all, blues is it, Muddy Waters with paint running down that great big face, staying up for days without sleep, Brian was a lovely guy but wasn´t built for fame, still finding something new in Jumping Jack Flash every night - well, you know the deal.

Yes, I´m aware I don´t have to read it.

Seeing the topic "Books never to be finished" my first thought was books announced for future publication but which have never seen the light of day - for whatever reason.

At least 15 years ago, Joni Mitchell's Memoirs/autobiography was announced as a forthcoming title. It's still unpublished (unwritten?),despite occasional announcements on progress. I understand how she could present a problem on the litigation front, though...

Any more examples that the massive can think of - not necessarily music-related?

We're moving flat soon and going to be short of space, so this evening's question, as we fill bags for the charity shop, is 'Am I EVER going to read/re-read this?'

Dictionaries and encyclopedias are all going - hello Internet! - but some of the fiction's got us in more of a quandary...

How about you? Do you often re-read books? Are you a hoarder? Do you buy, read and get rid of books as you use them? Are there unread tomes that have sat on your shelves for years?

... whatever the reviews, even if some of their past efforts have disappointed?

My list's dwindling but'd include Don Winslow, Geoff Dyer and Jonathan Coe.

Is anyone else really looking to the 364 sequels?