Reading Diary
a) Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis On Rock Music by Ellen Willis
I've never done a lot of homework on early rock criticism of the '60s and '70s, aside from a good amount of Christgau, who I tend to find off-putting more often than not. But Willis's New Yorker columns that make up the bulk of this collection are just incredibly clear-eyed, incisive perspectives on rock fandom that really helped me realize what kind of music writer I aspire to be. Willis pores over rockcrit staples like Bob Dylan and Lou Reed and actually makes me want to think about them and approach them from different angles, while also writing incredibly insightful stuff about CCR that I never realized anyone was doing back then and making me curious about some groups from the period I've never heard.
b) Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Revised and Expanded Edition by Oliver Sacks
I remember watching a TV segment about this a few years ago when it first came out and thinking it sounded really fascinating. This later pressing I borrowed from a friend actually supplements the original book with things people wrote or showed to the author after the initial publication to kind of help enrich the whole thing. Sometimes it gets bogged down a little too much in showing every anecdote and historical example in a given subject, but mostly Sacks does a great job of getting into what a unique role music plays in the human mind, really has been good food for thought.
c) Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
I'm only maybe halfway through this, I feel like there are definitely passages of this that have stuck with me as visceral, evocative reading experiences, but for the most part it's just kind of watching over me and not gelling into anything that feels like a narrative I have any kind of investment in. I'm wondering if I should've tried some other Pynchon first but mainly I don't think I'm really cut out for this stuff.
I've never done a lot of homework on early rock criticism of the '60s and '70s, aside from a good amount of Christgau, who I tend to find off-putting more often than not. But Willis's New Yorker columns that make up the bulk of this collection are just incredibly clear-eyed, incisive perspectives on rock fandom that really helped me realize what kind of music writer I aspire to be. Willis pores over rockcrit staples like Bob Dylan and Lou Reed and actually makes me want to think about them and approach them from different angles, while also writing incredibly insightful stuff about CCR that I never realized anyone was doing back then and making me curious about some groups from the period I've never heard.
b) Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Revised and Expanded Edition by Oliver Sacks
I remember watching a TV segment about this a few years ago when it first came out and thinking it sounded really fascinating. This later pressing I borrowed from a friend actually supplements the original book with things people wrote or showed to the author after the initial publication to kind of help enrich the whole thing. Sometimes it gets bogged down a little too much in showing every anecdote and historical example in a given subject, but mostly Sacks does a great job of getting into what a unique role music plays in the human mind, really has been good food for thought.
c) Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
I'm only maybe halfway through this, I feel like there are definitely passages of this that have stuck with me as visceral, evocative reading experiences, but for the most part it's just kind of watching over me and not gelling into anything that feels like a narrative I have any kind of investment in. I'm wondering if I should've tried some other Pynchon first but mainly I don't think I'm really cut out for this stuff.
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on Saturday, November 19, 2011 at 9:16 AM.
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