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Open Book - For Those Who Love A Good Read

Open Book

Girls Like Us ... a worthwhile bio of an amazing time

April 26th 2009 02:47

Have just read one of the best biographies in a very long time. Celeb bios can be, how should I put it, limited in scope. This I found out mind you, by reading many of them over a 10 year period some 15 years ago. So I am understandably hesitant about picking up another one these days. But I have to say that Weller has put together an extraordinary profile, not only of these incredibly successful women and their careers, but of a specific time period in which cultural changes were made that would alter our views and throw away attitudes faster than one could ever imagine.

I'm sure that having lived through these times as I did, adds to the enjoyment with this book, but that does not take away the quality of the research and scope of this biography and if anyone was attempting a study of this period it would do them well to add Girls Like Us to their reading list. Being in the forefront of the music industry during these socially changing times was surely as deep in the thick of it as one could get!

But in saying that, even if you're just interested in these artists and their music, you'd be hard pressed to find one biography that covers the number of artists that this one does. You also get a close look at Taylor, Crosby, Stills,Young, Jagger, Stevens, Browne (fans of that time know exactly who I'm listing here) and plenty of other behind the scenes info. You won't find me fawning over too many bios on this blog, but I must say, have a look at this one if your mind and/or body were ever in the 60s or 70s.

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And the Winner Is ...

November 16th 2008 20:17

I don’t normally rate the books I read, but if there was a prize for the most thought provoking book read this year it would have to go to Clive Hamilton’s The Freedom Paradox: towards a post-secular ethics.

Literally oozing with metaphysical and ethical arguments and the work of philosophers (mainly Kant and Schopenhauer), it does tend to send the layman’s head spinning at times. But Hamilton’s intensions are clear; for us to find freedom, true freedom, we do not look to our politicians, our church, our bank managers, magazines, e-bay or TV, we look within ourselves. He painstakingly (and this takes a lot of patience on his part) divides our world into the phenomenon and the noumenon. In other words, the reality we can see and the reality we can’t. He does acknowledge that for a large number of people, theology explains their noumenon. But in a world where the religious are fading, we need other answers. Enter metaphysics.

Now I’m not going to pretend to understand everything Hamilton covers here … it’s no easy read, and I’m no philosopher, but one of Hamilton’s true gifts is to be able to break-down complex information to an understandable format, thus sharing theories that would normally be beyond the average reader.

It is always reassuring to find a personal view point shared by someone else. It makes one think they are not so crazy after all! And the importance of listening to one’s conscience has always been a stronghold in my moral beliefs. After all, it is your conscience you have to live with, 24-seven. How are you going to lie to someone you can never leave?
History has shown that placing faith in the phenomenon (the world of perception) can fall a long way short of creating true happiness. From the time we are born until we die, we seek the knowledge of happiness – Where is it? He has it, I want it. How can I get it?

Paradox talks a lot about self-deception and ‘akrasia’ or lack of self-control. Certainly something all humans are prone to. Unfortunately, today we are bombarded with options and ‘freedoms’ that through perceived social convention promise us the elusive world of happiness. Yet, statistics show that we are no happier, and indeed less happy than we’ve ever been.
Hamilton tries to explain that in the noumenon - that is within us all - we become one because once out of this phenomenon world we are all the same (is your head spinning yet?). Does that explain why those who have near death experiences often report similar sensations? Maybe once we leave this world we do find a place where we can be our true selves. Where we are all truly equal.

Call it heaven if you like … but could it be that upon death, the energy that gives us life is transferred back into the noumenon – our never ending life, which allows our phenomenon world to continue?

Now that really would make life worth living, wouldn’t it?

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Land of the Mockingbird

November 10th 2008 19:47

Hi everyone, and please forgive my absence, but a chance meeting with a book has caused me to be lost in the wilds of Alabama and the land of the Mockingbird.
A few months back I happened across the biography of Harper Lee, I Am Scout. I have been a fan of To Kill a Mockingbird for many, many years. Lee’s style has always mesmerised me to a degree that constantly brings me back to this book as an all time favourite. Few surpass her flare for genuine narrative.

But over the years I have discovered little about this author, and in fact Mockingbird: a portrait of Harper Lee and I Am Scout by Charles J. Shields seem to be the extent of biographies written about this American icon. So of course I soaked up these titles, relishing my return visit to the world of Scout, Jem, Dill and Atticus.

I was in for a surprise though … as these books introduced me to the real world of Maycomb, Alabama and those who inspired some of my favourite characters of all time

The writing of Harper Lee’s only novel was no easy task for her, and when you realize how closely it mirrors her own life and those in it, you can understand why. In fact, her home town of Monroeville considers itself Maycomb, and is proud of it. But the knowledge that Dill, Scout’s citified, sissy neighbour is modeled after her long time friend Truman Capote sent me in another direction completely. It turns out that Harper Lee was a major contributor to Capote’s ground breaking non-fiction book, In Cold Blood. Of course, he is best known for Breakfast at Tiffany’s (currently on my reading list), but Blood counts as one of the most progressive non-fiction titles of its day. In fact, many consider it to be the fore runner of bestseller non-fiction.

An incredibly consuming story of the Clutter family massacre by two down and out crims, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, Capote became obsessed with the case and was determined to put together an account of the murder, trial and execution, detailing thoughts and profiles of all those affected in the small community of Holcomb, Kansas. Not an easy task when Capote lacked the necessary southern manners that would open doors. For although he spent his childhood summers in Monroeville, he had long ago left the south for fame and fortune in New York. The locals were wary and had Lee not been there to break through the all too formal protocol of southern etiquette, all he required would have been withheld. This book took 7 years to write and Lee, struggling to come up with a second novel, shelved her own efforts many times over the years, traveling back and forth to Kansas with Capote.

There have been two movies recently made about Capote and his wrestle with this book. Capote (2005) and Infamous (2006). I’ve seen them both … not preferring one over the other. Both directors seem intent on getting Capote right and I came away as intrigued as ever. The relationship with Lee and his eventual addictions and death is Hollywood material, but there is something sadder about his story that comes through in both movies. That of a young man who was passed over by his parents and the hurt he carried from the cradle to the grave. Somehow I feel Lee always knew and understood it.

Of course all this delving means nought if I fail to pick up Mockingbird once more and immerse myself in its text. This would be, at the very least, my fourth reading of the book and it never fails to please me. The innocence of childhood, the absurdness of bigotry and the shame of racism could not have a better stage.

Coupled with the election of Barack Obama to the White House, this is enough to give even a ‘human nature pessimist’ like me hope!

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The Gathering

September 7th 2008 22:21

Nobody suffers like the Irish. Thankfully nobody can it express like them either, which is exactly why a book like The Gathering by Anne Enright can work.
To be honest, winning the 2007 Booker Prize was the only way to get me to read this book. I feel as though I have read enough about the plight of Irish children and the terrible treatment that has been doled out them over the decades. But whether the theme as been over used or not, I still love a well written book, and The Gathering is exceptionally well written, there can be no doubting that.

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The Memory Room

August 24th 2008 21:24

As I read my way through an assembled list of Australian authors, (that I am constantly updating) I can’t help but be amazed at the writing talent we have in this country. What is it that makes Australians such convincing and confident storytellers? Where do we find the audacity to tackle any subject, plot or setting?

Well … what ever it is, I’m thankful for it, because I believe we churn out some of the best fiction written today!
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Playaways – the newest in Audio Books

August 12th 2008 21:42

Close to two years ago I wrote a post on listening to audio books (Listen to This – Oct 2006)expounding the merits of listening to a quality reading of books by professional actors and readers. And without a doubt I have seen the popularity of recorded books increase with library members in that time. We all seem to be adjusting to the idea of machines doing more and more for us … it was only a matter of time before they took over the more leisurely pursuits!

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Drug Addiction Uninspirational

July 31st 2008 21:13

Inspiration is not always forthcoming at the conclusion of a novel … and I have struck out on the last two I’ve read. A Million Little Pieces by James Frey was an addiction memoir taken to its tedious limit. It is an unusual approach to writing such experiences, I’ll admit that, but I was over it after the first 100 pages. I was ready to give him some crack myself! Just to relief my own suffering!

Don’t get me wrong, I have all the sympathy in the world for addicts. I watched as my brother fell into that hell. And he never made it out, so I have plenty of empathy there. But if I’m going to read about someone’s struggle to freedom I’m afraid I need more than just repetitive phrases when things get really tough.

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No Country for Old Men

July 14th 2008 21:20

In the past I have reviewed two of Cormac McCarthy’s books on this blog … All the Pretty Horses and just recently The Road. I’m a big fan, finding his sparse-like dialogue quite ingenious. But I had no plans of reading No Country for Old Men simply because its storyline did not really appeal to me. It all sounded a little too “Bang ‘em up outlawish” for me.

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The Piano Tuner

July 6th 2008 23:43

Reading an author’s first novel can really be a celebratory experience for a reader. I can only just imagine what it must be like to finish your first novel. The long hours of research, piecing together events, forming characters and personas, constant rewrites and edits, excruciating doubts and jubilations as it all culminates into a work of fiction bound in glossy ends … ready to be cracked open and devoured by hungry minds.

A bit too theatrical? Maybe … but after finishing The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason, I was left with the massive sense of achievement that this first time novelist must have felt for his work.
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Orpheus Lost – totally satisfying fiction

June 27th 2008 00:48

At present, I am personally congratulating myself for finally getting to an author that has been on my list to read for at least 4-5 years. Janette Turner Hospital, from all I’d read and heard is worth the intake and after finishing her latest, Orpheus Lost, I can confidently report on the affirmative … she is good!

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