Tag: List

ChatGpt – If I like these books what else would I like

If I like these books what else would I like:
The Exorcist
Rule of the Bone
The Beginning of Spring
Watership Down
The Penitent

Based on the books you listed, here are some recommendations for similar books:
  1. “The Shining” by Stephen King – Like “The Exorcist,” this is a classic horror novel that explores the darker aspects of human nature.
  2. “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger – Like “Rule of the Bone,” this is a coming-of-age novel about a young protagonist who is trying to find his place in the world.
  3. “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov – Like “The Beginning of Spring,” this is a literary novel set in early 20th-century Russia that explores the themes of love, art, and revolution.
  4. “Animal Farm” by George Orwell – Like “Watership Down,” this is an allegorical novel that uses animals to explore human society and politics.
  5. “The Power and the Glory” by Graham Greene – Like “The Penitent,” this is a novel that explores themes of sin, redemption, and faith, set against the backdrop of political turmoil.

New Black Canon – Books, Plays and Poems That Everyone Should Know – The New York Times

FICTION
Pauline E. Hopkins, “Of One Blood” (1902-3)
Chester Himes, “Lonely Crusade” (1947)
Fran Ross, “Oreo” (1974)
Alison Mills Newman, “Francisco” (1974)
James Alan McPherson, “Elbow Room” (1977)
William Demby, “Love Story Black” (1978)
J. California Cooper, “The Wake of the Wind” (1998)

DRAMA
Jean Toomer, “Balo” (1922)
Eulalie Spence, “The Starter” (1923)
Lorraine Hansberry, “Toussaint” (1961)
Charles Gordone, “No Place to Be Somebody: A Black-Black Comedy” (1969)
Adrienne Kennedy, “An Evening with Dead Essex” (1973)
Andrea Hairston, “Lonely Stardust” (1998)

POETRY
Esther Popel, “Flag Salute” (1934)
Bob Kaufman, “The Collected Poems” (1965-78)
Gwendolyn Brooks, “In the Mecca” (1968)
Ishmael Reed, “A Secretary to the Spirits” (1978)
Dolores Kendrick, “The Women of Plums: Poems in the Voices of Slave Women” (1989)
Melvin Dixon, “Love’s Instruments” (1995)
Ai, “Vice: New and Selected Poems” (1999)

The New Black Canon: Books, Plays and Poems That Everyone Should Know
A guide to some of the undervalued 20th-century works that testify to the richness of the Black American literary archive.
By Adam Bradley 

 

10 Tostolyan Conclusions

These conclusions, which paraphrase Tolstoys thought or draw dotted lines from his thought to the present, are offered not as so many truths but as prompts for dialogue.

1. We live in a world of uncertainty. Assured prediction is impossible. History and individual lives contain contingent events that might just as well not have happened. No account that tries to think contingency away can be adequate.

2. There can never be a social science, in the sense that nineteenth-century physics is a science.

3. We need not only knowledge but also wisdom. Wisdom cannot be formalized or expressed adequately in a set of rules. If it could, it would not be wisdom at all. Wisdom is acquired by attentive reflection on experience in all its complexity.

4. Because the world is uncertain, presentness matters. The present moment is not an automatic derivative of the past. In human life, more than one thing can happen at any given moment. Theories that assume otherwise mislead.

5. Because presentness is real, alertness matters. The more uncertain a situation, the greater the value of alertness.

6. Numerous biases distort our perceptions of our lives. We must undeterstand these biases to minimize their effect.

7. The idea that truth lies in the extreme is not only false but also dangerous. Even extraordinary moments are largely the product of what happens at ordinary ones.

8. The road of excess leads to the chamber of horrors.

9. True life takes place when we are doing nothing especially dramatic. The more drama, the worse the life.

10. Plot is an index of error.

Anna Karenina In Our Time
Gary Saul Morson
From the section One Hundred Sixty-Three Tostolyan Conclusions

Top Songs of the 80s

WFNX Top 101 of the Decade (1989)
https://www.rocklists.com/alltime16.html

1. The Smiths – How Soon is Now?
2. The Cure – Just Like Heaven
3. Modern English – I Melt With You
4. The Cult – She Sells Sanctuary
5. U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday
6. The B-52’s – Love Shack
7. R.E.M. – It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
8. The Cure – In Between Days
9. Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime
10. New Order – Blue Monday
11. R.E.M. – Radio Free Europe
12. U2 – Bad
13. XTC – Dear God
14. Peter Gabriel – In Your Eyes
15. The Clash – London Calling
16. Talking Heads – Burning Down the House
17. New Order – True Faith
18. U2 – Pride (in the Name of Love)
19. The Cure – The Lovecats
20. The The – Uncertain Smile
21. Kate Bush – Running Up that Hill
22. The B-52’s – Roam
23. U2 – I Will Follow
24. The Mighty Lemon Drops – Inside Out
25. Public Image Ltd. – Rise
26. The Sugarcubes – Birthday
27. The Cure – A Night Like This
28. R.E.M. – Fall on Me
29. Tracy Chapman – Fast Car
30. Ministry – Every Day is Halloween
31. Sinéad O’Connor – Mandinka
32. U2 – New Year’s Day
33. The Cure – Let’s Go to Bed
34. The Pixies – Monkey Gone to Heaven
35. The Psychedelic Furs – Pretty in Pink
36. R.E.M. – So. Central Rain
37. O Positive – With You
38. New Order – Age of Consent
39. The English Beat – Save It for Later
40. The Cure – Close to Me
41. XTC – Mayor of Simpleton
42. Violent Femmes – Blister in the Sun
43. Big Audio Dynamite – E=MC2
44. New Order – Temptation
45. The Cure – Why Can’t I Be You
46. The Vapors – Turning Japanese
47. The Replacements – Alex Chilton
48. Tears for Fears – Mad World
49. INXS – The One Thing
50. R.E.M. – Pretty Persuasion
51. Bryan Ferry – Slave to Love
52. Chameleons U.K. – Swamp Thing
53. The Clash – Rock the Casbah
54. The Waterboys – The Whole of the Moon
55. Mission of Burma – That’s When I Reach for My Revolver
56. The Smithereens – Blood and Roses
57. Roxy Music – Avalon
58. Hoodoo Gurus – Bittersweet
59. Indigo Girls – Closer to Fine
60. U2 – I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
61. The Cure – Lullaby
62. The Smiths – Bigmouth Strikes Again
63. Love and Rockets – So Alive
64. Peter Gabriel – Red Rain
65. The The feat. Sinéad O’Connor – Kingdom of Rain
66. Roxy Music – More than This
67. New Order – The Perfect Kiss
68. The Pretenders – Precious
69. The B-52’s – Private Idaho
70. Echo & the Bunnymen – The Killing Moon
71. The Sisters of Mercy – This Corrosion
72. U2 – With or Without You
73. Siouxsie and the Banshees – Cities in Dust
74. The Clash – Clampdown
75. Echo & the Bunnymen – Bring on the Dancing Horses
76. The The – Infected
77. Depeche Mode – Just Can’t Get Enough
78. INXS – Don’t Change
79. Morrissey – Suedehead
80. U2 – Two Hearts Beat as One
81. The Cure – Fascination Street
82. Echo & the Bunnymen – Lips Like Sugar
83. The Pixies – Gigantic
84. The Church – Under the Milky Way
85. The English Beat – I Confess
86. The Cure – Love Song
87. XTC – Senses Working Overtime
88. Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer
89. INXS – Need You Tonight
90. Tribe – Abort
91. Midnight Oil – Beds are Burning
92. The Godfathers – Birth, School, Work, Death
93. Billy Idol – White Wedding
94. Simple Minds – Don’t You (Forget About Me)
95. The Psychedelic Furs – The Ghost in You
96. INXS – Devil Inside
97. Blondie – Rapture
98. The Pretenders – Back on the Chain Gang
99. Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me With Science
100. Gene Loves Jezebel – Desire
101. David Bowie – Cat People

What’s In My Bag – Damien Jurado

Damien Jurado goes shopping at Amoeba Music in Hollywood. His latest album ‘Reggae Film Star’ is available from Maraqopa Records.

Check out his picks:
Scott Walker – Scott 3 (CD)
Cécile McLorin Salvant – Ghost Song (LP)
Ritchie Valens – Ritchie Valens (LP)
The Standells – Why Pick On Me / Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White (LP)
Fugazi – Instrument [OST] (LP)
Bobby Darin – The Direction Albums (LP)
Various Artists – Back From The Grave, Volume 9 (LP)
The 4 Seasons – The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette (LP)
Frank Sinatra – Watertown (LP)
The Doors – The Doors (LP)
Jessica Pratt – Quiet Signs (LP)
King Crimson – In The Court Of The Crimson King (LP)

What is the all time greatest driving song?

The_Fat_Man_Jams
Radar Love. Golden Earring.

Hershie23
Highway Star [Deep Purple]

whigger
For late night driving, Riders on the Storm by The Doors.

the_cat_fancier
Kickstart my heart by Motley Crue

Wrathofkala
Panama – Van Halen

dem0074
Born to be Wild. – Steppenwolf

latenightdrive_
move bitch, get out the way – Ludacris

ibided
The Passenger [Iggy Pop]. Even people who don’t know it will sing the chorus by the second time it comes around

Bestsellers – Amazon Germany

List via Amazon, translation via google:
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/bestsellers/2022/books

The Child in You Needs Home: The Key to Solving (Almost) Any Problem
Stefanie Stahl

Everyone longs to be accepted and loved. Ideally, we develop the necessary basic trust during our childhood that will carry us through life as adults. But the insults experienced also leave their mark and unconsciously determine our entire relationship life. Successful author Stefanie Stahl has developed a new, effective approach to working with the »inner child«: When we make friends with it, amazing possibilities arise to solve conflicts, to make relationships happier and to find an answer to (almost) every problem.

Mimic: Psychological Thriller
Sebastian Fitzek

Do not be afraid! Except for yourself…

Sebastian Fitzek’s outstanding psychological thriller about a mimic resonance expert who can no longer trust herself when she is in dire need

A tiny twitch in the corner of the mouth, the smallest change in the pupil is enough for her to “read” the true self of a person: Hannah Herbst is Germany’s most experienced mimic resonance expert, specializing in the secret signals of the human body. As a police advisor, she has already convicted a number of violent criminals.

But just when she is struggling with the consequences of memory loss after an operation, she is confronted with the most terrible case of her career: A previously completely blameless woman has confessed to having brutally murdered her family. Only her young son Paul survived. After her confession, the mother manages to escape from prison. Is she looking for her son to complete her “death mission”? Hannah Herbst only has the short confession video to convict the mother and save Paul. The problem: The murderer on the video is Hannah herself!

Her only way out leads deep inside her…

The Song of the Crayfish: A Novel
Delia Owens

The touching story of Kya the march girl, of the fragility of childhood and the beauty of nature

Chase Andrews dies, and the residents of the quiet seaside town of Barkley Cove agree: the march girl is to blame. Kya Clark lives in isolation in the marshland with its salt marshes and sandbars. She knows every stone and seabird, every shell and plant. When two young men become aware of the wild beauty, Kya opens up to a new life – with dramatic consequences. In an intense and atmospheric way, Delia Owens tells us that we will always be the children we once were. And cannot oppose the mysteries and violence of nature.

The Only Book You Should Read About Finance
Thomas Kehl

Better now than never!

From now on there are no more excuses to put off building wealth. Investing your money profitably has never been easier than it is today. The book by the creators of the successful YouTube channel “Finanzfluss” picks you up and gives you impulses to take responsibility for your own financial situation and to spark enthusiasm for personal wealth accumulation. Former investment banker Thomas Kehl and journalist Mona Linke explain how you can use stocks and ETFs to passively build wealth and how it works.

The Cafe on the Edge of the World: A Tale of the Meaning of Life
John Strelecky

A small café in the middle of nowhere becomes a turning point in the life of John, an advertising manager who is always in a hurry. He actually only wants to take a short break, but then he discovers three questions on the menu next to the menu of the day:
»Why are you here? Are you afraid of death? Do you lead a full life?” How strange – but once intrigued, John decides to unravel this mystery with the help of the chef, the waitress and a guest.

Questions about the meaning of life take him far away from his boardroom to the seashore of Hawaii. Along the way, his attitude toward life and relationships changes, and he learns just how much can be learned from a wise green sea turtle. Ultimately, this journey becomes a journey to one’s own self. A book that is as lively and humorous as it is touching.

Best Books I Read in 2022 that Weren’t Written in 2022

Selections mine. Descriptions from either Amazon or associated review or link. Listed in order of publication date.

English Journey – 1934
J. B. Priestley
Where I heard about it – David Bowie liked this and it was one of the books in Bowie’s Bookshelf: The Hundred Books that Changed David Bowie’s Life
Funnily enough, for all the bad news it imparts, English Journey is a consoling, optimistic read. This is down to Priestley’s tone, which, like his way with the mostly affectionately sketched characters he meets on his travels, is genial and uncontrived, or at least plays that way. Being a man of the people matters hugely to Priestley. He can’t resist a dig at “literary” writers who dismiss him as middlebrow but remain aloof from the poverty and suffering of ordinary folk. If T. S. Eliot ever wants to write a poem about an actual physical wasteland, he jokes, he should take a trip to North Shields.

Correlli’s Mandolin – 1995
Louis de Bernieres
Where I heard about it – This book was big in the 90’s.
The acclaimed story of a timeless place that one day wakes up to find itself in the jaws of history: “An exuberant mixture of history and romance, written with a wit that is incandescent” (Los Angeles Times Book Review).

The Smoking Diaries – 2001
Simon Gray
Where I heard about it – David Shields mentioned it in this NYTIMES interview
When he turned sixty-five, the acclaimed playwright Simon Gray began to keep this diary: not a careful honing of the day’s events with a view to posterity but an account of his thoughts as he had them, honestly, turbulently, digressively expressed. 

Stage Blood – 2013
Michael Blakemore
Where I heard about it – Amazon recommendation
Five tempestuous years in the early life of the National Theatre

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace – 2014
Jeff Hobbs
Where I heard about it – New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2014
A heartbreaking journey from a New Jersey ghetto to Yale to a drug-­related murder.

Surfing with Sartre – 2017
Aaron James
Where I heard about it – NYTIMES Book review from 2017
Meet Aaron James. He is a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Irvine, and an accomplished surfer. His new book, “Surfing With Sartre,” aims to articulate the distinctive philosophical value of the surfer way of being. His conclusion is bold: “What the surfer knows, in knowing how to ride a wave, bears on questions for the ages — about freedom, control, happiness, society, our relation to nature, the value of work and the very meaning of life.”

Five Minutes to Kill – 2017
Fred Stoller
Where I heard about it – Amazon Recommendation
In the 1980s and the 1990s, HBO’s annual Young Comedians Special was the ultimate launching pad for emerging comics looking to break into the world of show business. The Young Comedians Special produced some of the most recognizable—and bankable—comedic stars of all time, including Sam Kinison, Bob Saget, Jerry Seinfeld, and Judd Apatow. But what about the ones who didn’t exactly make it?

Three Girls from Bronzeville – 2021
Dawn Turner Trice
Where I heard about it – New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2021
A former columnist for The Chicago Tribune offers a textured portrait of her 1970s childhood on the South Side, where three Black girls with similar aspirations ended up with wildly divergent fates.