pick#ClassicLSFBC
I enjoyed these stories more than I recalled, so an upgrade to 5⭐ for me.
The last couple of stories deal with the political and economic consequences of robotic contributions to human culture and governance, with the rise of a fundamentalist Pro-Human faction being harnessed to electoral manipulation and (kind of) culture wars that sparked with contemporary relevance.
I may read "The Rest of the Robots" before the year's end.
"When Bowie was on the road in those days [1976], the convoy was made up of several vehicles, including a Ford Transit that carried his gear and a trunk containing the dozens of books he refused to be parted from." ???
#BooksAndBowie
#TenuousLiteraryConnection 1: The epigraph for TMWFTE is a verse by Hart Crane, who was friends with poet Samuel Loveman, who was also a friend of H. P. Lovecraft, whose story "The Statement of Randolph Carter" I've just read, in which the doomed character Harley Warren is based on Loveman. (Yes, this is exceedingly tenuous!)
#LSFBC #BooksAndBowie
I'm up to David's 1973 album, Pin Ups, in which he glams up some of his favourite songs by bands from the '60s, some of which had played the same circuit of pubs and community centres he emerged from himself. There's a couple of bonus tracks on this disc, including Bruce Springsteen's Growing Up, which David had seen him play at Max's Kansas City a few months earlier. I love that David respects the songs while infusing them with his own energy ⚡
"Kate Moss recently [2003] did a photo shoot with Nick Knight for British Vogue and she's wearing several of my outfits from the Ziggy years... She even called me afterwards to tell me I must have been really skinny at the time! When Kate Moss phones to tell you she can't get into your clothes, you know you can't have weighed very much." ✏️
#BooksAndBowie
Write the following 100 times:
"I am a responsible adult with control of his finances who is not easily influenced to make rash purchases based on the books he is reading!"
? This is Ground Control to Major Tom??
? You've really made the grade ???
#BooksAndBowie ?
pickI know I'm at risk of making my Litsy feed a David Bowie channel, but I picked up a little bargain from Vinyl Finders yesterday: This box set has a 48-page booklet of rare photos and commentary on David's pivotal year of 1970, and two discs of rare recordings, some of which I don't already have. It's a great soundtrack to the Rainbowman book I'm reading about the recording of Bowie's albums 🤩 A snip for a tenner! 💸
#BooksAndMusic #BooksAndBowie
Oops! I had a #bookcident when I went for a browse and came out with this 700-page monster! (Though, I mean, when did "a browse" ever not result in a purchase!)
It focuses on my favourite Bowie period, and is a compilation of scores of interviews with the musicians, producers, engineers, etc., who Bowie worked with, as well as the author's interviews with David over many years as a rock journalist. ????
#BooksAndBowie
- Do we have any David Bowie music?
- Yeah, downstairs.
- Here's what we were looking for. [Cassette of "Changes"]
- ?Holy shit! This is AMAZING! ✨
- It was the first time I could ever remember hearing queer references in song lyrics.
- Bowie's music was the first that felt like MINE! My love of Bowie has long outlasted the crush that started it.
----
I'm only 25% through, but this book just earned its 5 stars! ????
#BooksAndBowie
pickThere's nothing in this for me to not like, so an entirely subjective and probably unreliable 5⭐ rating, which, despite the foregoing caveat, I'm prepared to fight you about, your choice of weapons ⚔️
Pramanik's illustrations faithfully capture David's likeness, thankfully, as anything less would have ruined it, and while it's a naturally simplified version of Roeg's multilayered masterpiece, is still a satisfying story in itself. ⬇️
The last story, “The Evitable War“ put me in mind of David Bowie's song “Saviour Machine“, though he had a more apocalyptic vision than Asimov: https://youtu.be/ZBO0gf27sl8?si=kfKl8TOMRxKPfIun (edited) 5mo