Books and good reads [Merged] | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Books and good reads [Merged]

marella jube

Tiger Champion
Jul 27, 2004
3,269
358
Don't know if a good 'read' but see Sheedy spruiking a new book 'icons of footy'. KB, Royce, Carey, Hird, Ablett, Franklin, Barassi but no Tommy H, wtf?!!
 
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eZyT

Tiger Legend
Jun 28, 2019
21,434
25,768
I just read a book called 'dont skip out on me' by willy vlautin.

if you like anti-fairy tales, a bit of a pocket western and say the unrelenting misery and bleakness of a Ken Loach movie ,

as I do,

you'll like this book.

This is as far from the Daylesford written relationships and closet skeletons of three menopausal women as they pack up their dead friends Mornington beach house, as you can get.

But it left me flat and on the verge of tears for a bout 3 days after I finished it,

so its not really summer beach reading. More a rainy winter weekend with a pot of smokey ham hock beans on the stove and the 2017 grand final dvd on standby.

highly recommended 4.5*
 
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spook

Kick the f*ckin' goal
Jun 18, 2007
21,911
26,412
Melbourne
Tuna - kenneth cook

I got excited when i saw this in the ulmarra 2nd hand books.

It was $10, so i figure its hard to come by, but from the bloke wrote 'wake in fright', i wouldve paid $20.

cook makes hemmingway look like the alpha-fuckstick that he was.

And he understands small town australia better than winton,white or woewodin.

In fact, and i dont say this lightly, in this novel cook does coastal nsw like steinbeck does sth california.

On business transacted in pubs, and aussie racism, Cook is unsurpassed.

This is a great novel. Get your library to find it, and read it in a hammock with a chain of stubbies delivered by your youngest son, if you have one.

5 stars.
Well, @eZyT I finally got around to reading Tuna, didn't put it down from go to woah, and here I am at 4.30am.

You nailed it with the real man's Hemingway call. Gripping. Gritty. Superbly-paced, adrenaline and dread-filled action. A gutsy, stubborn, up-against-it protagonist willing to risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss. (Bit of ezy in Jack Foster).

Loved it.
 
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spook

Kick the f*ckin' goal
Jun 18, 2007
21,911
26,412
Melbourne
I've been reading screenplays too. Interesting to compare Aaron Sorkin's 'A Few Good Men' script, which hits all the beats and plot points all the books and script gurus say you need to hit, and is a shining star of the "it's not a formula, it's a paradigm" school, with Charlie Kaufman's 'Adaptation', a brilliantly original work that rips the p!ss out of that same God of Structure.

What also shines through is how much Sorkin is besotted with his own superior cleverness, while Kaufman, an actual genius, shares all his self-loathing and doubt.

Both great reads, but one is popcorn, the other - I dunno - ceviche with a side of oysters? I'd choose a beer with Kaufman over lines with Sorkin, even if Aaron was shouting from the mega-stash you just know he dips into on the reg.
 
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eZyT

Tiger Legend
Jun 28, 2019
21,434
25,768
I've been reading screenplays too. Interesting to compare Aaron Sorkin's 'A Few Good Men' script, which hits all the beats and plot points all the books and script gurus say you need to hit, and is a shining star of the "it's not a formula, it's a paradigm" school, with Charlie Kaufman's 'Adaptation', a brilliantly original work that rips the p!ss out of that same God of Structure.

What also shines through is how much Sorkin is besotted with his own superior cleverness, while Kaufman, an actual genius, shares all his self-loathing and doubt.

Both great reads, but one is popcorn, the other - I dunno - ceviche with a side of oysters? I'd choose a beer with Kaufman over lines with Sorkin, even if Aaron was shouting from the mega-stash you just know he dips into on the reg.

never seen a screenplay let alone read one.

The couple of times I've tried plays, I haven't finished them, so I imagine id struggle with a screenplay? I rarely finish non-fiction too and have never gotten through 20 pages of a book of poems

Im pretty much a one-trick pony, novels. 2 tricks if you count the back pages of the newspaper.

I'd take a thimble full of ceviche over a bucket of popcorn but, any day.
 
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Scoop

Tiger Legend
Dec 8, 2004
24,931
13,970
I've been reading screenplays too. Interesting to compare Aaron Sorkin's 'A Few Good Men' script, which hits all the beats and plot points all the books and script gurus say you need to hit, and is a shining star of the "it's not a formula, it's a paradigm" school, with Charlie Kaufman's 'Adaptation', a brilliantly original work that rips the p!ss out of that same God of Structure.

What also shines through is how much Sorkin is besotted with his own superior cleverness, while Kaufman, an actual genius, shares all his self-loathing and doubt.

Both great reads, but one is popcorn, the other - I dunno - ceviche with a side of oysters? I'd choose a beer with Kaufman over lines with Sorkin, even if Aaron was shouting from the mega-stash you just know he dips into on the reg.

Sorkins West Wing seasons are his greatest work and coincide with his taste for Booger Sugar.

I adore Sorkin. The Facebook movie gets nowhere near enough credit.
 

AngryAnt

Tiger Legend
Nov 25, 2004
27,017
14,791
Sorkins West Wing seasons are his greatest work and coincide with his taste for Booger Sugar.

I adore Sorkin. The Facebook movie gets nowhere near enough credit.

I did like The Social Network to be fair.
 

DavidSSS

Tiger Legend
Dec 11, 2017
10,521
17,873
Melbourne
On a completely different note, I'm reading Reality is not what it seems by Carlo Rovelli. A very interesting approach to trying to explain quantum physics to people without a physics background. Great attempt but quantum mechanics is not easy without the maths and I suspect the later parts of the book on quantum gravity are going to be way out there. Certainly opens your eyes about what physics is finding about the world at a sub-atomic level, lot's of weirdness.

I probably read too much non-fiction so a novel next I think.

DS
 
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spook

Kick the f*ckin' goal
Jun 18, 2007
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Melbourne
I like Sorkin's work too. It's just no one likes it as much as he does. The Social Network is great, West Wing is great albeit idealistic in terms of the purity of its heroes (See also: The Newsroom), A Few Good Men is very good. Charlie Wilson's War was excellent. The man can write.

Jesse Eisenberg playing Mark Zuckerberg written by Aaron Sorkin (so he's really playing Sorkin, cos Zuck doesn't have 5% of the wit and smarm of his fictional self) is peak Sorkin.
 
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spook

Kick the f*ckin' goal
Jun 18, 2007
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Melbourne
If for nothing else, these are good days for getting to those books you always said you were going to read. I've started on Darryl's brother Patrick's bio of the former Brisbane skipper, Voss. Reading Patrick's short story on the history of Marvel Stadium, Down At The Dump, as a young bloke, turned me off him - I found it dull, dense and depressing. And I was 20. But 50 pages into Voss, and even though there's no footy yet, there is some ripping writing:

A universal truth for artists and footballers: "To make yourself, it is also necessary to break yourself."

Advice on dealing with the meeja: "A cunning man can be used if he does not first use."

With inspirational speeches like this, Voss' failure as a coach is even more mysterious: "Every man has a genius, though it is not always discoverable. Least of all when choked by the trivialities of daily existence. But in this disturbing country, so far as I have become acquainted with it already, it is possible more easily to discard the inessential and to attempt the infinite. You will be burnt up most likely, you will have the flesh torn from your bones, you will be tortured probably in many horrible and primitive ways, but you will realise that genius of which you sometimes suspect you are possessed, and of which you will not tell me you are afraid." Brick walls, lads. No obstacle.

And I like this one, clearly addressed to a reporter: "But there are droughts, Turner, that no worm will experience in his blunt head as he burrows in the earth. His life is blissfully blindly physical. The worst that can happen to your worm is that he may come up and be trodden on."
 
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eZyT

Tiger Legend
Jun 28, 2019
21,434
25,768
If for nothing else, these are good days for getting to those books you always said you were going to read. I've started on Darryl's brother Patrick's bio of the former Brisbane skipper, Voss. Reading Patrick's short story on the history of Marvel Stadium, Down At The Dump, as a young bloke, turned me off him - I found it dull, dense and depressing. And I was 20. But 50 pages into Voss, and even though there's no footy yet, there is some ripping writing:

A universal truth for artists and footballers: "To make yourself, it is also necessary to break yourself."

Advice on dealing with the meeja: "A cunning man can be used if he does not first use."

With inspirational speeches like this, Voss' failure as a coach is even more mysterious: "Every man has a genius, though it is not always discoverable. Least of all when choked by the trivialities of daily existence. But in this disturbing country, so far as I have become acquainted with it already, it is possible more easily to discard the inessential and to attempt the infinite. You will be burnt up most likely, you will have the flesh torn from your bones, you will be tortured probably in many horrible and primitive ways, but you will realise that genius of which you sometimes suspect you are possessed, and of which you will not tell me you are afraid." Brick walls, lads. No obstacle.

And I like this one, clearly addressed to a reporter: "But there are droughts, Turner, that no worm will experience in his blunt head as he burrows in the earth. His life is blissfully blindly physical. The worst that can happen to your worm is that he may come up and be trodden on."


Ive tried to read Patrick White a dozen different times and ways, and never been able to get traction.

I've got no other real option other than to accept that Im not smart enough.

and yes, every man has a genius has been screamed, possibly with less verbosity, in every half-time huddle, in every footy game, in every country town in Australia since the inception of time.

......... so *smile* go out there fellas, and put your body on the line

have you ever read any Gerald Murnane @spook ?

some of his stuff is P.White inaccessible, except the grist for his mill is horse racing (jockeys colours) and catholic guilt.

hes definitely worth a crack while your in this zone.
 
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spook

Kick the f*ckin' goal
Jun 18, 2007
21,911
26,412
Melbourne
Ive tried to read Patrick White a dozen different times and ways, and never been able to get traction.

I've got no other real option other than to accept that Im not smart enough.

and yes, every man has a genius has been screamed, possibly with less verbosity, in every half-time huddle, in every footy game, in every country town in Australia since the inception of time.

......... so *smile* go out there fellas, and put your body on the line

have you ever read any Gerald Murnane @spook ?

some of his stuff is P.White inaccessible, except the grist for his mill is horse racing (jockeys colours) and catholic guilt.

hes definitely worth a crack while your in this zone.
I haven't, mate, but I will make a note of it. I have vowed not to buy another book until I have read every one in my house, but I could make an exception for a great Aussie author with great Aussie grist.

Speaking of vices, have you read any Damon Runyon? After years of describing Dyer'ere as the Runyon of PRE, I was pleasantly surprised to be able to introduce the old fella to his work, which nach was right up his dark, seedy, gently humorous alley.
 

craig

Tiger Legend
Aug 19, 2004
45,623
29,169
Melbourne
"Everything Is F ***** ! A book about hope by Mark Manson

I'm not expecting it to be too high brow or found on the shelves of too many Freud types but I reckon its likely gonna have some good stuff in there.
 

scottyturnerscurse

Tiger Legend
Apr 29, 2006
5,167
2,009
I like Sorkin's work too. It's just no one likes it as much as he does. The Social Network is great, West Wing is great albeit idealistic in terms of the purity of its heroes (See also: The Newsroom), A Few Good Men is very good. Charlie Wilson's War was excellent. The man can write.

Jesse Eisenberg playing Mark Zuckerberg written by Aaron Sorkin (so he's really playing Sorkin, cos Zuck doesn't have 5% of the wit and smarm of his fictional self) is peak Sorkin.

Looking forward to Sorkin’s Trial of the Chicago 7.
 

artball

labels are for canned food
Jul 30, 2013
6,889
6,301
"Everything Is F ***** ! A book about hope by Mark Manson

I'm not expecting it to be too high brow or found on the shelves of too many Freud types but I reckon its likely gonna have some good stuff in there.
it's his follow up to 'The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k', which has some decent stuff in it ..
 
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eZyT

Tiger Legend
Jun 28, 2019
21,434
25,768
I haven't, mate, but I will make a note of it. I have vowed not to buy another book until I have read every one in my house, but I could make an exception for a great Aussie author with great Aussie grist.

Speaking of vices, have you read any Damon Runyon? After years of describing Dyer'ere as the Runyon of PRE, I was pleasantly surprised to be able to introduce the old fella to his work, which nach was right up his dark, seedy, gently humorous alley.

I'll take a look at Runyon.

In real life, Gerald Murnane went to the Melbourne races with his wife every Saturday for nearly 50 years.

Neither of them believed in an afterlife

As they entered their 70's, and to test their afterlife cynicism, they made a pact that whoever died first

would influence a race the following Saturday, enabling the breathing partner to profit.

you could find the exact details, but basically,

Geralds wife died and the following Saturday, Gerald went to the races.

He backed a horse at about 25-1 straight out who was running about 6 lengths 2nd with about 100m to go.

when suddenly, the leader shied at a swooping seagull and jumped the inside rail.

Geralds longshot strolled in, he collected, and I suspect now believes in an afterlife.
 
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craig

Tiger Legend
Aug 19, 2004
45,623
29,169
Melbourne
Don't know if a good 'read' but see Sheedy spruiking a new book 'icons of footy'. KB, Royce, Carey, Hird, Ablett, Franklin, Barassi but no Tommy H, wtf?!!

Sheedy would spruik a Toddlers Inflateable Wade Pool Full Of Camel *smile* if there was a dollar in it for him.
 
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tigertim

something funny is written here
Mar 6, 2004
29,891
12,161
I’m reading the Unforgiven, a book on the Windies players who played on the rebel tours of South Africa in 83 and 84. Good read so far, a chapter on each player.