im about to finish the dharma bums, then im going to read ask the dust by john fante. i only got it because bukowski says that Fante is god and i say that bukowski is god so it seems like a logical read ;)

A bit late to jump on the bandwagon but....

The Da Vinci Code

Probably almost half the people who are able to hold a guitar in the USA, America, the blue planet, milky way, the universe have written a song about Kerouac or more or at least they tried and failed miserably (hello, Kurt Cobain!), Patti Smith referenced Kerouac, the Doors, the Smiths, Bobby blahblah Dylan, etc. etc. SY also often write kerouacesque shit.

I prefer The Dharma Bums by the way, since it's more bunched together. As brilliantly written as it might be, I find On the Road too long-winded with its five choruses, still brilliant.

[quote=Gogogonorrhea]Probably almost half the people who are able to hold a guitar in the USA, America, the blue planet, milky way, the universe have written a song about Kerouac or more or at least they tried and failed miserably (hello, Kurt Cobain!)quote]

Which nirvana song?

daniel silva-murder in vienna
tom robins- (i don't know the title in english, about Bernie and the princess and the Camel pack)
currentrly reading again 1984, just to get myself completely shocked and confused on reality.
i read newspapers. tons of them. i read press release email, laws, military magazines and stuff about anarchism/activism on the web. i read the Big Blue.

I don't usually read fiction, but today I bought Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen. I had no idea he'd written a novel - I don't know that much about him yet, as I'm still in early days of listening to him. Any recommendations for Cohen LP's appreciated, incidentally, especially if there's any good live stuff.

1984

My two favorites are easily Songs of Leonard Cohen and Songs From a Room. Of the live stuff I've only heard Live Songs which is ok, but not great in my opinion.....mainly because of the song choice.

Dalton Trumbo "Johnny Got His Gun"

Oh, Shentov, that Tom Robbins book is called Still Life With Woodpecker

Whenever I try to explain the premise of this book to someone, it sounds like it's the most boring idea ever conceived. But it's not, and is a super fast read on top of that. I like it when I can just finish a book in one afternoon like that, without it feeling like a throwaway novel.

im not reading anything at this very moment, except


bulletproof web design
stylin' with css

(ha ha ha. im serious)

the world cup has taken over all of my spare time and that is including weekends. and then gogol is waiting to be finished.

oh im translating a screenplay too. but that's sort of a secret i guess. legal troubles!! :D

"Confessions of a Crap Artist" by Phillip K Dick.

Got into Waldan today - holding off on the Rand. Thoreau's ideas are interesting, but they seem like tried ideas. To rid oneself of superfluous things, lead a solitairy - but not completely isolated life - to enjoy the fruits of labor-in fact, to just enjoy labor to increase the fruits; essentially to live only with necessities.
I might just feel this way because these are ideas I've toyed with for some time. The thought of creating and fully enjoying your surroundings could only enhance your life.
Anyway, I'm only 40+ pages in, so who am I to criticize?

I felt the same way reading Thoreau, especially in the classroom. Now, I'm sure most of the creeps I went to school with never gave any of those topics a single thought prior to that, and I sure as hell wasn't going to elaborate on any of the points outloud because they would just steal my observations for use in the inevitable essays we had to write. I mean, you should have seen them when the teacher tried to address the issue of conformity. Just imagine a room full of blank faces, and you've got the right idea. And what am I supposed to say? "I've been out of the social loop my entire life, and not by choice." And anyway, everyone conforms in their own way, but that much is painfully obvious. Reading Thoreau was more exhausting than it was anything else, just because the topics he addresses are things I've encountered while reading other things that aren't, at their core, lectures. I love plot, I love characters, and if I can have those things and still be as "challenged" as I would when reading Thoreau, then I really do not want to read Thoreau.

I have a tiny copy of Walden in my glove compartment. Along with an E. A. Poe short story collection. I haven't even finished Economy, though. It's simultaneously brilliant and boring. I have it there because you can basically open up to it anywhere and find good snippets. Very good in small doses.

His views on clothing should be in the Constitution, BTW.

Whereas I think the world would be a more enjoyable place if more people dressed like David Bowie circa Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane.

yeah this is epicurus rehashed

but his little rationale on the cost of traveling by train instead of by foot is kind of hilarious don't you think? worth reading, many good points, not to follow like some following sucker, but to simply consider...

beautiful losers is amazing. enjoy

I remember seeing that Metallica video (One, maybe?) with a film version of the book. After I learned more about Dalton Trumbo, I wanted to read it more. Still, though, I always wondered how you could make a book out of it.

Oh, and you're obviously a faster reader than I am. It's taken me three lengthy sittings so far.