by Paul Rees

I was a longtime fan of John Cougar followed by John Mellencamp. (Alas, Xopher HATES John Mellencamp, so it’s been kind of difficult for me to enjoy him in recent years; I’m always hearing negative opinions…)

I started reading this book and quickly developed a dislike to what I was learning about John Mellencamp as a person. Volatile, violent, reckless, mean, not nice, and maybe not even all that talented, just lucky…

I finished the book still thinking him volatile, violent, all those negative words. And not liking him. And yet… liking him at the same time.

But as you know, the one I REALLY like is Dylan…

John Mellencamp: “’I asked him, “Bob, how did you feel when people gave you shit about doing a Cadillac commercial?”  He looked at me and said, “Didn’t bother me.  Even when I was doing my greatest stuff they didn’t write nice things about me.  If I’m such a living legend, why in 1986 did Columbia want to drop me from the fucking label?”  Hearing Bob say that, you realize it’s a slugfest, because here’s the greatest songwriter of all time.  There’s no argument about that by the way, there’s nobody even comes close.  I was getting a lot of shit about that Chevy commercial, too.  And it was like Bob told me, “What the fuck do you care?”’”.

Miriam Sturm: “I can’t tell you how many emails we got before the first of those ballpark shows telling us, ‘You may not speak to Bob Dylan.  You may not look Bob Dylan in the eye.  Don’t approach Bob Dylan, or ask Bob Dylan at any opportunity to have a photo taken.’  I was like, ‘Jeez, what do you think I am, seven years old?’… I happened to walk smack into Dylan.  I actually looked into his eyes.  Oh, no, I was going to turn into a pillar of salt!  No, it wasn’t so awful, but he sure is grave, man.  There was no person behind the eyes I looked into.  It was very strange.  I guess he’s so used to having to cloister himself.”

Dylan giving a speech at the MusiCares event honoring him in 2015: “And like my friend John Mellencamp would sing – because John sang some truth today – one day you get sick and you don’t get better.”  Noting he was referencing the lyrics from “Longest Days,” Dylan concluded, “It’s one of the better songs of the last few years, actually.”  
“The only modern artist Dylan acknowledged as a songwriter in his speech was John,” says Rob Light… “I think more than any moment in John’s entire career that was the one for him.  It hit him in a way that to this day I’m not even sure he’s comprehended.”

John Sykes: “That’s not Rolling Stone magazine.  That’s not a reviewer in a local paper.  That’s Bob Dylan.  There is no greater validation for an artist born of the baby boom generation.  That is the ultimate seal of approval and it came when John had started making records for himself and not for everyone else.”

by J. R. R. Tolkien

(Re-read)

“‘I wish it need not have happened in my time’, said Frodo.
‘So do I,’ said Gandalf. ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.'”

“‘He deserves death.’
‘Deserves it! I daresay he does. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them?'”

“He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.”

This book is a tremendous ode to love of nature… love of home… love of the agrarian… and a spirituality of the earth and beyond.

And an adventure story. This is at least my third read, and I think I saw the Peter Jackson movies twice. The movies have enhanced my ability to visualize the action scenes of the book – I’m not good following action, as a rule. But the memory of the movie’s depiction of Gandalf’s capture by the Balrog – his last words, “Fly, you fools!!” – made the scene live for me.

by Lionel Shriver

Lionel Shriver, you have really let me down. This book is really bad. The dialogue is horrible; the protagonist is an ugly character. From what I’d read, I thought this book was supposed to be “balanced.” It’s all nativism, and scheming scamming illegal immigrants. I appreciate your eagerness to take on the tough issues nobody wants to touch, but you’re apparently not always up to the task.

by Geraldine Brooks

I hate to be my usual negative self about this book, because it’s her tribute to her late husband. But it felt braggy. I couldn’t relate to these people’s jet-setting wealthy extroverted life. There, I said it.