by Kingsley Amis

I picked up this book on someone’s recommendation and because I’m interested in sexual mores before the big revolution of the 60s. This book, published in 1960, was eye-opening.

Jenny is a pretty 20-year-old, away from her hometown for the first time, that men literally cannot stop throwing themselves at (despite her bust being only 34 inches, so she must have been QUITE a looker). It goes to show how horrible it must have been for a pretty girl back in the day when men could just make passes at you, and if anyone looked askance, it was to blame you.

The whole story was something like a train wreck I couldn’t look away from. On various levels, it was nothing less than horrible; yet I was dying to know, “Will they or won’t they!?”. The characters were almost all dislikeable. I only liked Jenny and – of course – Julian. Not coincidentally, Julian was the only man in the book that DIDN’T bodily throw himself at Jenny. Patrick Standish, her love interest, was a monster who just kept getting worse. I kept thinking, “he can’t possibly sink any lower”, and finding out that he actually could.

The book is humorous, in a way. But the many passages aiming for humor just, almost, never quite, managed to hit the mark, exactly.

by Steven Strogatz

A fun little book that explains various math concepts in crystal-clear language. My favorite was the derivation of the quadratic formula.

by David Mitchell

Utopia Avenue is a fictional late 1960s ensemble rock group. The band has no leader, and similarly, the book seems designed to have no main character – sort of. Bassist Dean really is kinda the leader of the band, and similarly, he really is kinda the main character, getting a bit more page space and depth of character than keyboardist Elf, guitarist Jasper, and drummer Griff. Still, we do get separate story arcs for each band member.

Jasper was the most compelling to me. He’s fighting schizophrenia and you really want to see him turn out OK. Much more seems on the line here than with Elf’s subplot of sexual discovery, and Dean’s woebegone travails of being a schlemiel. Griff’s plot twist was telegraphed way too far in advance.

But who doesn’t want to spend time in the psychedelic heyday of rock’s adolescence? I couldn’t possibly give this a bad review.

by Philippe Margotin & Jean-Michel Guesdon

The authors are at their strongest when identifying who played on what track, and exactly what instrument they were playing. Did you know Charlie Watts played a “Gretsch kit”? He most certainly did. You’re reminded of that every other page.

They’re at their weakest in understanding lyrics. They were constantly just slightly, or entirely, missing the mark. For example, “Hang Fire” off TATTOO YOU was not exactly an indictment of Thatcherite economics. It was more an indictment of lazy people, a feeling which Mick would explore more explicitly a few years later in “Let’s Work”. But hey I could be wrong.

The best parts were often when I’d go back and put the CD on to a certain minute mark where the authors had pointed out a flub. What incredible ears they must have – usually I could barely even hear what they were talking about. But particularly on the early tracks, it was often amusingly obvious. The book was worth the price of admission for expounding on the way Keith’s fuzz guitar comes in a note late on the second refrain of “Satisfaction.” I had always noticed that, even as a wee tot, and I always really liked the effect. Now I know that he was late turning on the fuzz pedal, which he turned on for the refrains and off for the verses! And for the third refrain, he’s a note or two too soon, though that’s less noticeable.

by Ann Napolitano

The story had a very slow, rather dull start. I found myself at first disliking Julia and pitying William; soon I was finding Julia to be a little too much like myself. Too bad she was portrayed as a semi-monster by the end. Noteworthy: A family of six Italians, and nobody cooks?? All the sisterly love was very wearing; reading about extremely close families like this always leaves me feeling smothered. These were definitely storybook people in storybook relationships. By the end, I was just skimming; I didn’t care, and did not enjoy the story. I was glad when I was finally free.

by Mike Campbell

Great to spend some time with Mike, Tom, Benmont, Howie, and Stan, and all the stars they crossed paths with.

It always warms my heart to see rock stars married to the same person for decades.

I didn’t realize Campbell wrote “Boys of Summer”. He wrote the music and played most of the instruments on it. That made him richer than being in the Heartbreakers.

Particularly great Bob Dylan anecdotes.

Tragic how drugs took Howie’s life and then Tom’s. Glad that Benmont recovered from addiction.

by W. Somerset Maugham

Could this book have been a little bit shorter and been just as effective? At 684 pages, of course. Yet I am so glad I stayed with it.

I nearly did otherwise. Midway, it felt like nothing more than the story of a young man making one bad decision after another. And it was definitely that! Then came the philosophy.

“He could not be positive that reason was much help in the conduct of life. It seemed to him that life lived itself.”

“He did not act with a part of himself but altogether. The power that possessed him seemed to have nothing to do with reason: all that reason did was to point out the methods of obtaining what his whole soul was striving for.”

Philip Carey is orphaned young and lives a hard life. The story does not take some of the obvious turns that you think it might. Philip makes a brief stab at being a chartered accountant; tries to be an artist in Paris; then finds his groove as a medical student before falling into penury. He learns much along the way, finally (at page 590) finding a sense of meaning in the meaninglessness of life. “As the weaver elaborated his pattern for no end but the pleasure of his aesthetic sense, so might a man live his life, or if one was forced to believe that his actions were outside his choosing, so might a man look at his life, that it made a pattern.” It’s really a beautiful couple of pages that follow.

To drag out G. M. Hopkins once again: “What I do is me; for that I came.”

by Brian Eno and Bette A.

A nice little book! Lots of food for thought. Fantastic illustrations.

by Laurie Woolever

This was a very enjoyable read. The author worked for Mario Batali, who comes off like a total (expletive); and Tony Bourdain, who comes off like a total doll. In between she practices serious forms of substance abuse and self-sabotage. I was always happy to come back and spend time in her company and root for her. Keep kicking butt, Laurie.

by Prince Rogers Nelson & Dan Piepenbring

I am by no means a Prince “fan”. I do adore the one album I have on disc, which is the one with the symbol. And I’ve always thought him to be an interesting person. And phenomenally creative and talented. His appearance at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is a MUST see.

I saw the book used and cheap and picked it up. It’s written by a fanboy shortly after Prince’s death in 2016. The two of them were supposed to collaborate on his memoir. Instead, Piepenbring put together all the material he collected and published this. Most of it is still in Prince’s voice.

Disappointed it only covered the early part of his career. Nothing about the New Power Generation, the symbol, the album with the symbol, etc. Maybe that would have been covered had Prince lived to continue the collaboration.