The rare book shown above (try getting hold of a copy) is Les Dawson’s only serious work of fiction. It provides a disturbing insight into the mind of the late comedian. Its thesis is that the earth has, for millennia, been controlled by alien forces who have had a hand in everything from the Maya to the Miners’ Strike; in its magisterial sweep the book takes in the Spanish Inquisition, the rise of Hitler, the Kennedy assassination, Glastonbury, the Second Coming, cigarettes stubbed out on the eyeballs (twice), various scenes of sexual mutilation, the projected collapse of the EEC in 1989 and the Sino-Russian war of 1992. The following excerpt gives an idea of the inflated tone, which despite its resemblance to bits of Dawson’s stage act is, I must repeat, not meant to be funny
Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson. Looks as if it's part of his Future History series. We have murder on the Moon in the Chinese sector, an American technician set up to take the rap. The daughter of a member of CCP Standing Committee is also on the run on the Moon, she is a dissident. As well as the SF this is very much a political novel, not just dealing with unrest in China but also in the US with new forces using Crypto-Currencies to battle Wall Street (basically a middle class uprising).
He's so hit and miss Robinson. Genius in some books, dull in others.
Not everyone takes to his infodumps and asides. I've liked all of his recent stuff: 2312, Shaman, New York 2140, Aurora.
What would recommend to someone who hasn't read any Kim Stanley Robinson?
I listerned to Aurora on Audible. Took me a little while to get used to the female narrator (Ali Ahn) but by the end of the book she was incredible.What would recommend to someone who hasn't read any Kim Stanley Robinson?
I listerned to Aurora on Audible. Took me a little while to get used to the female narrator (Ali Ahn) but by the end of the book she was incredible.
New York 2140 bored me to death.
I've never seem the Kubrick adaptation, so the next free evening I get will be dedicated to a comparison.
Edit: What else can I see Leonard Rossiter in on the big screen (beside Barry Lyndon)? He's fantastic.
I watched the film last night.
Lots to like, but the book wins hands down. The film is so infuriatingly vague in plot with its attempts at the metaphorical that I'm surprised anybody understood it. It's a fine balance that needs to be struck between the figurative and the literal and I'm not sure it didn't topple towards the former--notably at the end.
Great composition, amazing film-making, insane levels of visual detail, but ultimately a weak plot. And although the human dialogue was deliberately stilted and cliched, being every bit as dull as you set out to be is still an unrewarding achievement for the viewer.
I could watch the wormhole scene the once without my attention wandering too far, but I'm not sure about a second or third time.
Of course, I'll never know whether I would feel the same if I'd watched the film before reading the book.
Edit: What else can I see Leonard Rossiter in on the big screen (beside Barry Lyndon)? He's fantastic.
At home or on the big screen as it were? Two very different experiences, more so than with most films I feel.
Home on a (good) computer screen. I enjoyed the visuals even on a reduced scale, but--as I say--I found the narrative vagueness irritating in comparison with the book.
What else can I see Leonard Rossiter in on the big screen (beside Barry Lyndon)? He's fantastic.
Just started this one. Feels very good:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28228605-haunted-by-books?from_search=true
In Haunted by Books Mark Valentine explores the more curious byways of literature. He presents the author who was always being told he had nearly written a masterpiece, and the genius of the short story who brewed his own cider and lived in a railway carriage.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43074886-death-valley-superstars“If it goes by, I’ve always known it was fickle,” Marilyn Monroe once said of fame, an overriding theme in this collection of essays, profiles, and memoir by showbiz survivor Duke Haney. Fame proved faithful, of course, to Monroe, the book’s most iconic subject, while others, like Steve Cochran, a villain in movies and a “hard-drinking, bed-hopping cop magnet” in reality, were widely forgotten before their untimely, often mysterious deaths. Taking an experimental tack in some instances, Haney employs a psychic medium to conduct a séance at Jim Morrison’s former residence and an astrologer to interpret the birth chart of an astrology-crazed film star-turned-bank robber. He attends the funeral of the “next James Dean” who became a raggedy street person, performs a cringeworthy nude scene in a movie produced by “King of the Bs” Roger Corman, and searches for the camper van where funk trailblazer Sly Stone has been reduced to living.
Painstakingly researched and compulsively readable, Death Valley Superstars offers a kind of midnight tour of Los Angeles past and present, highlighting hidden corridors and seldom-heard anecdotes about a few of the many who, fooled by Hollywood’s mirages, found themselves caught in its quicksand.
'Tales of the City' : Armistead Maupin.
Very readable.
Just arrived, not started it yet...
Death Valley Superstars: Occasionally Fatal Adventures in Filmland by Duke Haney
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43074886-death-valley-superstars