Category Archives: Words

Reading of Books #35

Books I read recently by Coetzee, Murakami, Becket and Ikäheimonen on black metal, barbarians, women, and men that are waiting.

J.A. Coetzee – Waiting For The Barbarians

source: goodreads.com

I started this book on a whim and rather soon I was captivated by it. It’s not a pretty book, in fact most of it is rather grim and the main character only really finds any shine at the end or in his suffering. Before that, you merely sympathize with the sad figure he is. What I like most, is that this story to an extent feels relevant to today. Not in the sense that there is still uncharted ground with wild tribes about, but in the need for one people to tell another how to be and how to live. This, unfortunately, has not changed over time I fear. The writing is quick paced and miraculously evokes images more than it describes.

The story takes place in a border town. Regardless of how you read it, it’s an imperialist force at work, trying to subdue the world and telling the ‘savage’ what is right and what is wrong. Sounds familiar? I read this as if it concerns Brittish colonialism, but this goes for most of those forces. The magistrate of the town welcomes a military man, who is investigating the tribes. He then goes and captures a lot of these tribesmen, tortures them and then leaves. The magistrate feels an affinity with one crippled woman left behind and feels all his previous views of the world break down in the sleepy border town. His world changes then. This book is a good read, I recommend it to anyone.

Tero Ikäheimonen – The Devil’s Cradle: The Story of Finnish Black Metal

source: Goodreads.com

Finnish black metal is something else. It’s dirty, raw and violent, much more intense in a way, compared to their western neighbors. When the history of metal is written, the country is often overlooked but that is about to change with this fantastic book by Tero Ikäheimonen, who tracks the history of the genre in Finland through a string of bands that made it what it is today. He does this through interviews, which are lengthy and sincere.

From Barathrum, Beherit and Impaled Nazarene to the stranger bands that still are active in the scene, this is a work that may not be complete but gets close to painting a total picture. The author sometimes doesn’t manage to really pierce the surface with bands and get to the bottom of things, but that leaves the band as they chose to be. Personally, I was disappointed to not see the build-up towards the nazi-question concerning Satanic Warmaster remain unanswered. Ah well, can’t win ‘m all. Anyone who is into black metal should have this. Really.

Haruki Murakami – Men Without Women

source: goodreads.com

In this book with short stories, Murakami seems to explore the relationship between men and women and what happens when it’s separated. Not as in lost to one another, but more as if there’s a glass plate separating the two. The Japanese setting often feels slightly alien to me, which makes the stories more significant and poignant, because it’s not really in the book but in the back of my head where this alienation takes place. The loneliness and alienation is embedded in the protagonists that walk the pages of this short story collection, which was published in 2017. Interestingly enough, that is 90 years after Hemingway released a collection of similar stories under the same title.

Like the critics said about Hemingway’s stories, there is a certain vulgarity to the characters in the books. Their humanity shines through in every expression and act. Their banal activities all seem so exhaustingly significantly when Murakami illuminates them with his pen. Where further deduction might lead to finding a common denominator through the stories, I think it’s more the overall feeling that they leave with the reader. It’s a sense of recognition, of looking into a mirror that shows the flawed nature of us men when we are without women. Maybe it shows women the same, like the Platonic split whole human, we are simply not complete when we are on our own (regardless of what sort of partnership, gender or orientation, this works in all cases).

Samuel Becket – Waiting For Godot

source: goodreads.com

I’ve had this book on my reader for a while and finally got around to checking it out. It’s not the longest bit of reading, but as this is a play, the form requires a different form of focus on the words and acts that occur. The story is an absurd tale of two men, who are waiting for Godot. It’s not clear who Godot is and why they are waiting, but they keep asking eachother random questions, trying to figure out the nature of their situation. The story is circular as in that it repeats the same pattern over 2 nights, where they wait and Godot doesn’t show. Another character shows up with his mute servant, who they seem to clash with in a particular manner, but nothing really leads them anywhere.

The peculiar thing about this story, is that it is completely open. Interpret it as you will and experience it whatever way you like. I’m still not entirely certain what meaning I derive from it. For me it conveys a feeling of meaninglessness that the human condition is now in this time. We move towards a horizon that never emerges to find what we never find, because contentment has become a myth. That’s the faith of Vladimir and Estragon it seems…

Reading of Books #34

Some reading done in the recent days with the Elminster Series by Ed Greenwood, Cleric Quintet by R.A. Salvatore and the zines Bardo Methodology and Forgotten Path. Sometimes I feel that my way of grouping books is perhaps odd, but that’s just the order in which I’ve been reading them.

Ed Greenwood – Eliminster Series (titles grouped as main series fo first five novels): 

Elminster: The Making of a Mage
Elminster in Myth Drannor
The Temptation of Elminster
Elminster in Hell
Elminster’s Daughter
Elminster is a creation of Ed Greenwood. A bearded mage, with a sarcastic kind of humor, a kind heart and powers beyond anyone else. He is known as the great meddler, the storm bird and worse by his enemies. He’s also great with women. If you google Ed Greenwood, you might thing he idealized himself in one of his characters actually, so that’s a bit odd. As a D&D player myself, I read these books with great interest, but found them often complex, unnatural and slightly unhinged. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great works of fireball-throwing-blood-gushing-damsell-seducing-divinely-inspired-dragons-swords-and-whatnot fantasy. They’re not very much to my taste, let me tell you why. I read it with enjoyment at times, but never worried about any outcome. Sure, this happens a lot in fantasy, but it doesn’t have to be so bloody obvious.

As a player, there’s one pitfall and that is loving your character too much. Elminster is as close to unfallible as any character has ever gotten. I mean, Gandalf and Dumbledore have nothing on this guy, who keeps defying death, withstands the most extreme torture and if all else fails just fucking fireballs himself out of any sort of trouble. It becomes rather boring if every rising action in your story, is a mere hick-up for the protagonist, so while the first book is very satisfying, it soon becomes a bit of a bore. I know there is more, but I feel sort of reluctant to start reading those, for exactly that reason. Another point is that Elminster seems to be a singular shining light in a world populated by cardboard characters. Every other player in this game is pretty much insignificant or very one dimensional. That and the fact that Gods tremble when He Who Walks passes makes me less fond of the books. Sometimes, I completely got lost in the woolly, jumpy descriptions. Sorry.

R.A. Salvatore – The Cleric Quintet

Canticle, In Sylvan Shadows, Night Masks, The Fallen Fortress, The Chaos Curse
The Cleric Quintet takes us back to a more simple and pleasant Forgotten Realms, where not Goddes-infused Elminster blasts his way through the world or the troubled Drizzt cuts and slices through the underdark. Salvatore started on the quintet after a couple of Drizzt series, in an attempt to start something new. In future series, the cast of both books would meet. That to me, was a greatly positive thing for the Drizzt series, which went on for a good run more afterwards. The quintet takes place in a region, dubbed the Baronies, where Cadderly is a student at the Efidicant Library. The library shines as a light of intellect and knowledge in the realms and draws visitors from far and wide.

At the side of Cadderly Bonaduce is Danica Maupoissant, a monk of a peculiar order with an uncanny strength and agility. Their adventures start, when an evil trinity of forces plans to take over the Baronies with an evil curse. To defeat their enemies the duo, who are playful lovers from the start, team up with the fantastic dwarven brothers Ivan and Pikel Bouldershoulder. The second wishes to be a druid and speaks only in affirmative or negating sounds. It makes for a fun and loose party, which is a nice change from the serious and dour group around Drizzt. Together they are going to have some great adventures. R.A. Salvatore pushes in some new directions with these novels, in a realm that feels cleaner and simpler in a sense. More warm and welcoming, which for me felt liek an interesting exploration.

Niklas Göransson – Bardo Methodology #2

Some magazines simply go beyond mere magazine-form. Bardo Methodology definitely counts as one of the favorite things I’ve read in a long time. Not only does Göransson pick some extremely interesting interviewees, but he never goes for the low hanging fruits with his questions. There’s a refreshing honesty to his writing, also when things don’t seem to go his way. At some point during one of the interviews, it seems that a conflict starts to rise. As the interview cuts up here, the author explains what happens in a neutral manner, making the reader feel even more like a fly on the wall during the interview. That is one of the things that makes this zine so remarkable.

The depth of questioning and of the authors knowledge is astonishing to me. Questions really dive into the deep end with most of the characters, though here and there this means unmasking the pretenders it seems. One or two interviews really illuminated some charaters for me in a way that also dispelled the magic these figures once held. That’s the way of things, but also proof of skill from the one asking the questions. I’m looking forward to #3. Maybe it’s also interesting to mention that ‘bardo’ is not derived from bards. The word refers to the transition between life and death, where much extreme metal holds sway.

Various authors – Forgotten Path #6

Again, not that I’m in the habit of reviewing zines, but these thick slabs of metal history/journalism are well worth mentioning. Though Forgotten Path is not a one man operation, it seems that Odium, the main author, has an obsessive urge to put words on paper. The amount of pages in this edition astonishes me, the same goes for the wide range of bands covered. Pages full of miniscule font cd-reviews, dense interviews and here and there an opinion piece, make for a read that fills up multiple evenings and rarely starts to bore.

Opinionated is something that definitely applies to Odium. He has a very clear artistic vision and view on the world, which shines through in his introductions, questions and most of all opinion pieces. This is not a bad thing, unless there was any pretense of being the objective writer. A zine is always personal and shaped by the authors. That is for me one of the main charms of Forgotten Path. Apart from that, they also do a great job at writing in a way that feels very natural, using speaking language instead of complex, intellectual swivel. A joy to read.

 

Reading of Books #33

A bunch of books I read, with Elaine Pagels, Teresa Iezzi, William Shatner and Aaron Mahnke. Satan, lore, Leonard Nimoy and copywriting all in one post.

Elaine Pagels – The Origin of Satan

Elaine Pagels had previously written about Gnosticism and therefore has e wide and deep knowledge of the early history of the Holy Bible. I’ve always found it very interesting how the Christian faith supercharged a Manichean worldview thanks to their black and white view of the world. You have people that are saved and people that are doomed, which is pretty much how Judaism and Islam view the world too. This was not an unheard of concept, the ancient Greeks viewed everyone who didn’t speak their language as inferior and barbaric, but even that was not to the same extent as the Christian faith changed the way we look at the world.

Satan embodies the other half of the dichotomy in Christianity, raised from a more pagan-like spirit to God-sidekick, he was cast as the opposing force. There’s a lot Pagels has to say about this, pointing out the incongruities of that whole viewpoint, but its shaping by human intervention in the teachings of Christ really has influenced our worldview and the complete dominating nature of these Semitic religions. I was mildly disappointed by this book, simply because most of it is not dealing with the name of Satan itself or its conceptualizations, but its socio-political meaning. This is highly interesting, but the book is mostly a critical reading of Biblical formation and censorship. A topic that can’t be highlighted enough in this illuminated world.

William Shatner – Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man

The passing of Leonard Nimoy hit sci-fi fans around the world hard. I still tear up at certain fragments in the new Star Trek films, like the brief scene where Zachary Quinto’s Spock receives word that Nimoy-Spock (time-loop thing, use google) has passed away. There was much ado about the fact that at the funeral one guest was sorely missing. That was William Shatner. His two daughters were present though and Shatner did have a huge event to attend. Though the two grew apart in their later years, Shatner probably felt the hurt of this sudden gap Nimoy left more than anyone else. So then he answered with this book.

The book is the life story of Spock and Kirk, of the men behind them and their long-lasting friendship. The story tells about elements of both their lives, the connective pieces and the discrepancies in the context of busines where friendships are rare. It’s a heartfelt story that includes a lot of painful moments that both men shared. Some moments are quirky and at times there’s a little too much Shatner in the story and too little Nimoy, but friendship is a process and feeling at the same time that is highly personal. It’s a good book, a pleasant read for those that want to experience that remarkable man through the eyes of his remarkable friend. Probably as close as you can get.

Aaron Mahnke – The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures

Aaron Mahnke has been hosting an amazing podcast for a while now and I had never heard of it until I came across this book. Lore is a rather complex term, that involves an element of common knowledge, mystery and its embeddedness in general consciousness. In the podcast, and obviously in the book as well, Mahnke explores the world of mystery and stories that fill our daily lives. Old superstitions are a big part of the book, for example, the story of where the vampire myths come from. The way they shaped and merged into the modern Bela Lugosi-esque view on the mythical being, illuminated through stories of vampire hunters, frauds, and very suspicious happenings.

But Mahnke uses the term Lore very broadly. Modern-day myths also are a part of the book. What you get is a collection of remarkable stories with dubious truths, that put a bit of mystery back into the world we live in. I became aware of the podcast and surrounding outlets during the book, so there’s a tendency in the writing style of short, bite-sized internet communication. You know, sometimes a bit too much suspense and almost sensationalist cliffhangers are a part of the way the stories are brought to you. But that’s what makes them so appealing, the way they often are told. In that sense, this is a great book for those who love the strange and weird.

Teressa Iezzi – The Idea Writers: Copywriting in a New Media and Marketing Era

As someone who has been involved with professional writing for most of my working career (and recently have started to work as a copywriter), I have a constant interest in the field and its development. I have a particular love for language, for the way it captivates us and how we gravitate to good storytelling. Even the opening line of my beloved Star Trek is an example of that: “Space, the final frontier…”. That’s still copywriting in an age where we have a different landscape of media. Advertising has changed a lot through that and Teressa Iezzi brilliantly outlines this in her book.

The best part about this book is that it’s not trying to summarize or conceptualize this new way of advertising. Iezzi tells it, the way it should be told: with stories. The book describes the heroic tales of new advertisers, innovative products, and daring ventures to tell the world about a product. Mostly without talking about the product. It aptly describes the heavy kind of jobs copywriters face and how their job has changed in these recent times to a more and more art-director-like position. A thoroughly enjoyable work, that builds up my enthusiasm more and more for the way words still carry magic as we used to believe.

Books: Cult Never Dies edition

I love black metal in all its aspects. It has not ceased to amaze me this far. Extreme metal in itself is a rich outlet, with art, image and philosophy always intertwined with the art itself. No one documents that better than Cult Never Dies in a stunning series of books and merchandise.

Recently the organization moved in new directions, to make products that don’t directly fall in the original line of books about black metal that they’ve been releasing. Since I normally write about the books I read in particular book blogs (here, here, here and here) (and here too). I felt that these new releases deserved to have their own little bit on Stranger Aeons, so here’s to the latest writings of Cult Never Dies/Dayal Patterson.

Dayal Patterson – Owls, Trolls & Dead King’s Skulls: The Art Of David Thiérrée

source: CND website

This book is an art book with a biography of a remarkable artist. David Thiérré is a craftsman, who works with a sense of reality and almost tangible eye for detail. His works are very well known and respected in the extreme metal world, but to just place him under that banner does little justice to his creativity. Thiérré seems to breathe life into nature, the way folklore and old tales do. It’s only logical that by 2017 his work appeared in a book form, presented to those who love and embrace the otherworldly quality of his work.

Cult Never Dies is well known for the metal-related productions, but this is a new venture and a daring one at that. Not only is the metal community a niche in itself, when you add the filter of art to the mix, you’re bringing something that might not find the broad appeal you’d hope. But that’s exactly what Cult Never Dies has been doing, capturing a scene that defies definition and putting it to paper, boldly presenting it to the world. The work of David Thiérré has a similar mythical quality and to capture it, without choking the life out of the gentle pencil strokes and layered washes of paint shows mastery on the publishing end as well.

The book contains the story of the artist. It’s not full of drama, but it gives in insight into the connective tissue that binds Thiérré to his art. A feeling of what meaning and love go into it. This book should not be missing from your book shelves

Sven Erik ‘Maniac’  Kristiansen – Ultra Damaged: Damage Inc. Zine Anthology 1987-2017

source: CND website

Before Maniac became one of the most feared and insane live frontmen the world has ever seen, he was mainly a massive music geek. Yeah, sure… back then we didn’t call it that, but this production clearly shows his massive love and passion for extreme music displayed for the world to see. Probably a bit surprising to many people actually, but the man knows his Japanese hardcore, underground black and death and much more. Only two editions of his Ultra Damaged zine came out back in the eighties, but specially for this release they have become available once more. Maniac is also starting his zine anew, with a love for the physical product and the handwork that goes into it.

In Cult Never Dies it seems that old zine makers have found a company that can put this together as a cool product, relevant in todays age of internet fluidity. Reading this zine, you become aware of the peculiar beginnings of black metal. The music is not known as such yet it seems, by the choice of words by Maniac. He talks about music that is evil, brutal and insane, with an uncanny passion. The interviews are not overly polished, the language is often riddled with mistakes, but the pure passion behind it is tangible. What I like most is how you really trace the development of something new and exciting through the words of Maniac and their ever subtle shift from zine 1 to zine 2. These zines are not high literature, but pure chunks or original black metal passion and history.

New titles

Exciting news, there’s two new titles available. A combination of zines, titled Ultimate Darkness and the amazing Doom Metal Lexicanium by Aleksey Evdokimov.

These things don’t just happen, they take a lot of work and investment. If you’re excited about this (as I am), make sure to grab some of these titles or maybe a cool new t-shirt (great quality, trust me). Keep the cult alive!

Reading of Books #32

So welcome to another bit of book reading by myself with works by Alastair Bonnett, Eric H. Cline, Joanna Harris and Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. From Viking myths to forgotten cities, lost civilizations and the world of Dragonlance.

Alastair Bonnett – Unruly Places: Lost Spaces, Secret Cities, and Other Inscrutable Geographies

source: goodreads.com

Think of places that are special to you. You might be thinking in a lot of manners now, but probably you’ve got some ideas that are more feeling than geographic location. That’s just one example of how a place works for us and what place can mean. In this amazing book the author Alastair Bonnett explores a series of places with various characteristics. Imagine for example an island that you see on a map every day. Suddenly it turns out that this island never existed. What does that do and mean to us? What is it like when we notice weird corners in our own daily meanderings, which seem to be forgotten and owned by no-one in particular. And what about places that move, are they still places?

Keeping these questions low-brow and fun, Bonnett writes a surprisingly elaborate story that explores all these questions and more. You’ll never think of that weird patch of grass you pass by daily in between two roads in the same manner. Maybe you have this magical door you remember from childhood or a mythical location you’ve read about. These are all themes for this book, which are woven into a tapestry of theory together. The style of Bonnett is one of an eager explorer, who takes you along on his path. Asking questions, but not always answering them completely, the reader engages with this book and that alone makes this a treasure map.

Eric H. Cline – 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed

source: goodreads.com

Egyptians, Hittites, Canaanites, Cypriots, Minoans, Mycenaeans, Assyrians and Babylonians… Maybe you know all of them from something like Age of Empires, but all these civilisations at some point in history collapsed only to be rediscovered thousands of years later by us. In this book, Eric Cline investigates the findings of archaeologists to first create a reconstruction of this forgotten past and analyse what possible events could have let up to the year 1177 B.C. when everything collapsed. The disclaimer is that obviously, not everything fell apart in one go at that time, but its a markable point in history around which these events must have occurred and radically change the face of the world as we’ve come to know it all these years later.

It’s a peculiar question, how things would have been if there was something like a continuity. Cline spins a tale that offers a lot of suggestions and hints, but never actually goes into speculation. What this book brings to the table in a low-level manner is the facts and what sort of past they reconstruct. It’s a captivating tale with a lot of what ifs and food for thought about the way we live in our own times. Sure, the world was much bigger back then, but parallels can be drawn with current times and that is what makes this book fascinating, relevant and maybe even urgent with regard to current day events. A captivating read.

Joanne Harris – The Gospel of Loki

source: goodreads.com

We’ve all heard the tales of Loki the Trickster. But did you ever hear them from the horse’s mouth? How would the story look when it is told by the man himself? That must have been the question that Joanna Harris asked herself because this is exactly what we get here. True to the olden tales of the Edda, we follow Loki through his times in Asgard as an unwanted runt in the family of the Aesir and Vanir. The origins of the trickster, his attempts at finding a home among the gods and his chaotic nature all are part of a story that is strangely touching but also often flat-out hilarious. Apparently, there are more parts, but this book on its own is already a worthy read and a treat.

The story is told from the perspective of Loki, who also happens to be the storyteller. That means you have vivid depictions of what transpired when Loki and the oaf Thor went to see the giants for example. Loki also comments on the story and breaks that fourth wall multiple times. It just feels so right, with all the fitting epic bombast of a Marvel movie as well as the metaphoric aspects that are so much what the original stories are all about. It makes for such a fun read and I hated that it ended. So maybe I should read the whole series.

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – Kender, Gully Dwarves, and Gnomes

source: goodreads.com

Another collection from Krynn, the world of the Dungeons & Dragons Dragonlance setting. This is a collection of stories with Weis and Hickman as glorious editors. Their names are well known in the fantasy universe and you can be sure to get something good out of them. This book follows similar adventures as the previous one did. It focusses on the well-known adventurers from the setting. These consist of humans, elves, dwarves, and kender. The tone and presentation are quite old-fashioned. That gives them a specific charm and atmosphere. That in turn really works with the material and because of that also serves the reader in his experience of these stories.

What is so enjoyable about these stories, is that they have a mature tone to it. There are some definite sexual references in this book, but done in such a way that probably only adult readers will pick up on them. That is an art in itself by the various writers. Richard A. Knaak, who I like for his Warcraft stories, has a peculiar tale about a Minotaur who shows the futility of strife to a human knight. Weis and Hickman themselves take up the bulk with a story about a gambling god and the heroes who suffer because of that. Though I enjoy these stories, the Dragonlance setting lacks a certain charm for me. It seems as if the outline of the world is too simple at times, too much a predecessor for better-balanced universes like that of Warcraft or the Forgotten Realms. That gives the stories a  lot of advantage because then the story essence needs to be much better. That’s what these writers succeed in with glory.

The Reading of Books #31

I’ve been really picking up the pace and the pile of books appears to be dwindling at times. But there’s so much more to read. I enjoyed books by Mo Daviau, Bruce Chatwin, Ernest Hemingway and Nathan Gray these past few weeks, so here’s a bit about those.

Mo Daviau – Every Anxious Wave

source: Goodreads.com

So imagine a setting where an ageing rocker of the nineties indie kind and his failed-at-life computer programmer buddy find a way to exploit a wormhole in the first one’s closet to send people back to the past. Only to see rock concerts though, because of a sense of morality concerning the past. Then the second one by accident gets send back in time to the island of Manhattan in 980 AD, where the means for traveling back don’t work. Well, that is the mistake Karl makes when his friend Wayne wants to stop the murder of John Lennon.  So there’s the plot of this novel. Karl has to right his wrong (he forgot a number when plotting Wayne’s destination, so he finds an astrophysicist to help him. That would be Lena, who likes the Melvins. She also likes The Axis, which was Karl’s band. And then everything goes horribly wrong/right/what?.

Mo Daviau wrote this as a first novel and I for one am impressed by the way this novel unfolds. There’s romance, rock’n’roll (a lot of names get mentioned). I think Mo Daviau might have an Elliot Smith tattoo somewhere actually. Time travel, with all the moral questions that come with looking at such a concept in our time and age. The way Daviau writes is very matter-of-fact and the style feels so natural as if this was taken out of daily conversations. The eye for detail, including the unpleasant little bits that we deal with in daily life, makes the novel very lively and easy to become a part of as a reader. I like that the characters are very human, not picture perfect characters. They become very real and very tangible very soon for you as a reader and that makes this book so captivating. The time traveling is pretty cool too though.

Bruce Chatwin – In Patagonia

I don’t know how, but reading the book by Andrea Wulf about Alexander Von Humboldt has triggered a wish to read more books about travels. Pretty soon the book ‘In Patagonia’ came up. Bruce Chatwin tells the story of his youth, where his grandmother had a piece of ‘Brontosaurus skin’ that she received from cousin Charles Milward. Milward was a captain that had sailed to South-America and found the remains of a Mylodon. Later Chatwin met with architect and furniture designer Eilleen Gray, who has a map of Patagonia. He tells her he always wanted to go there. So did she, but at 93 years of age it’s a bit late for that, so she asks him to go instead of her. So a miraculous story starts from there.

Chatwin travels but doesn’t just describe his experiences, but stories from Patagonia of other bold travelers who went there like Butch Cassidy and Charly Milward himself. Through these stories, bits of history and anecdotes from people he meets, he paints a remarkable picture of the realm. Patagonia becomes one of the last places of true and thorough mistery and wildness. A place where the world is still wild and untamed. From the atrocities against the Indians to their violent revolts to missionaries and daring criminals, Chatwin puts them together in a remarkable book. Even the story of the book is remarkable and daring. Chatwin is a master storyteller and this book will make you yearn for the untamed places in the world.

Nathan Gray – Until The Darkness Takes Us

source: goodreads.com

The boysetsfire frontman Nathan Gray has had an interesting life and one well worth documenting in writing. Also, the restless soul of this converted Satanist is eager to explore new forms of expression. And so this biography was unleashed together with new steps in his artistic life; the Nathan Gray Collective (live review here). The story of Gray starts in a strongly religious community, which shaped him with the doom and gloom outlook. From that departure point, Gray takes us through is life. Finding liberation outside of the community, struggling with the self and eventually finding punkrock music.

Eventually Gray finds himself amidst failed relations, years of party life, creating meaningful music and shouting defiance at God, government, and fate. About struggling as artists to find their way and looking for new creative outlets. Gray ends his story with the discovery of Satanism. He attempts to explain this, but notes that misunderstanding is always there. He expressed this also in the project I AM HERESY. Gray has an interesting writing style, rich with words and expressions with an almost academic or theological tone at times. I guess it’s the poet in Gray that shines through in the pages. Gray writes noteworthily vague sections about very personal issues. The phrasing gets to an almost prophetic doomsayers rantings at times, filled with quotes, and lyrics. It makes for a daunting read with clear personal struggles, but also a great insight into the process of this fascinating artist becoming himself and offering that wisdom to you as a fan. This book is brave writing, if you enjoyed the music of Nathan Gray as I do, check it out.

Ernest Hemingway – The White Snows of Kilimanjaro

Mind, this is not a well-known bundle of work by Hemingway. It’s a Russian readers collection (English with Russian annotations), that I picked up in Vilnius. In this book, the reader receives the stories that taek take place in Africa. They are set during safari’s or otherwise in these wild and untamed lands where Hemingway went in the thirties. The title refers to one of the stories in this little bundle. This is not the first book of short stories by Hemingway that I’ve read, but definitely not the one I enjoyed most. Perhaps because I find the whole business of a safari harder to relate to. That makes sense. Regardless of the fact that they are merely the setting for the sparse narratives of Hemingway, this is a thing we simply no longer appreciate in western society.

What I love about the work of Hemingway, particularly this one, is the sense of suspense it leaves you with. The fact that a lot of the story is somehow omitted is the art. This makes it even more impressive and captivating, due to the mental engagement in the writing. On the other hand, Hemingway throws images at you in rapid succession, drawing upon your imagination to shape and color the story to the max. It’s a joyous experience, but it also makes that reading the stories in succession might be a bit tiresome. Every story reads as a good film and that is the absolute charm of this fabulous author.

Reading of Books #30

So here we go again with a series of brief book reviews. This time we have Jack Kerouac, Herman Melville, Alex Honnold & David Roberts and Andrea Wulf on the shelves. A series of brave, bold books

Jack Kerouac – The Dharma Bums

source: goodreads.com

Though Kerouac is mostly known for his ‘On The Road’. I personally felt more attracted to ‘The Dharma Bums’. Anyone with a love for rock climbing and hiking has to read it apparently. I think it would be good for anyone to read about a cleaner, greener America where there still was hope for a rucksack revolution. Replace America with a European state and the same story makes sense. The protagonist of this story is the Kerouac alter-ego, Ray Smith. Smith is a bum most of the time, traveling around with other poet friends, spreading the word of Buddha and trying to find enlightenment in a world that is rapidly changing into convenience, commodities, and capital-driven. It’s the last attempt at finding beauty in the untarnished nature and simple pleasures that life offers.

To me, most of the book revolves around the climb of a specific mountain, named the Matterhorn Peak in Yosemite. The ascent and descent of the mountain seem to form the pinnacle of the story. Here Smith finds absolute beauty and spiritual joy in the climbing and hiking. The simplicity of it all is the message and the book travels on like the descent is everything that comes after, just as everything before was part of the ascent. It’s at the peak where we find joy, where we are closest to the gods. The original intent behind this book might have passed me by.  Regardless, I believe in the rucksack revolution. I believe that we all should pack our bags and travel into nature, into the wild now and then to find our true selves and the simple beauty that is life. That to me tells that this book can still bring that spirituality to readers far in the future.

Alex Honnold en David Roberts – Alone on the Wall

source: goodreads.com

Alex Honnold has become something of a legend in recent years for free-soloing mountainsides. Free-soloing means going up there without a rope, just with climbing shoes and a chalk bag. That’s some hardcore stuff, so reading his first book is well worth your time regardless if you love climbing, know about climbing or are just fascinated. Though hardly a biography, the book offers a glimpse into the mind of a man who climbs with the ultimate risk and still earned the nickname Alex ‘No Big Deal’ Honnold. The book follows him through a series of expeditions and extreme climbs that were undertaken during his career.

We get a glimpse into the person that is Honnold, from his own perspective and from people around him. It’s weird that Roberts manages to pull out a lot of really personal stuff out of the climber. An example is Honnold’s relationship in the past that seems to really have been an emotional rollercoaster at times, without every bearing the man’s soul to the world. The explanation is simple. Honnold, like an artist, shows his soul when he climbs the big walls. When he speaks of climbing it’s not super exciting, it’s his action that is that of a true poet and monk at the same time. The spirituality of climbing you glance from his eyes in some of the videos and interviews, but rarely from his words and that is perfectly fine.

Herman Melville – Bartleby the Scrivener

source: goodreads.com

“I prefer not to” is what Bartleby responds to his boss and benefactor when he is asked to review his work. Bartleby is a scrivener, basically a copyist in the era when duplication of documents was work by hand. The simple, though not forceful, negation holds a message for today. Melville wrote this in protest, in frustration about the lack of success of his writing, but it’s that voice of dissent that still rings true today. I read this on the airplane, coming home to a situation I was not entirely happy within the work sphere. The simple story in this book felt strangely powerful.

So Bartleby refuses to do work that doesn’t appear to him. He starts negating more and more and protests in an almost Buddhist-like non-action way. This inevitably leads to his death in the end of this strange story. The simple words keep ringing: “I prefer not to”. Melville wrote a story worth reading, even if only consisting of 50 pages. It has a power of its own, like any good short story and should be read more widely.

Andrea Wulf – The Invention of Nature

Source: goodreads.com

It is a strange thing, the way time obscures certain people. Andrea Wulf illuminates the figure of Alexander Von Humboldt in this biography, an explorer, scientist and thinker of the 18th and 19th century with a profound effect on the way we think and look at nature. Wulf names him in the title already the forgotten hero of science and nothing seems to fit better than this. The book follows the life of Von Humboldt in all its imperfections, creating storylines that sometimes overlap and revisit each other. It reads like one of those adventure novels I loved to read when I was a little boy and Von Humboldt soon becomes your hero when you’re reading these pages. Through it all, the figure takes shape and form and becomes real to the reader.

But Wulf does more than just telling the story. She also explores the how and why of Von Humboldt’s emission from our history books took place. After connecting his work and influence to some of the most pivotal thinkers of their time, from Charles Darwin to Símon Bolivar, she explains that part. Germany has lost a lot of popularity due to the two world wars in the 20th century and this simply lead to omitting the German from street signs, libraries and the like. Only in South-America, his name seems to be as revered as it was back in the day. This is a huge shame, but it is the way of things. Thanks to Andrea Wulf this great man of the sciences, arts and the inventor of nature as we know it now has the biography that brings him back to us.

Reading of Books #29

I’ve been reading some books and they were good. I read work by Duff McKagan, Peter Criss, Roddy Doyle and Robert B. Cialdini. A bit of music, a bit of thinkers work and a bit of literature, it was a good and inspirational series of titles. Check them out.

Books!

Duff McKagan – How To Be A Man (And Other Illusions)

source: goodreads.com

Duff McKagan managed to grab my heart with his first book It’s So Easy (And Other Lies). That book deals with the glory days in Guns’n’Roses, drug- and alcohol abuse and getting on your feet again. It ends on a high note, with the little family and new projects in place. By writing a follow-up, McKagan shows himself to be a true story teller. We find the man back in the van again with the Walking Papers a new project (and brilliant music), picking up where he left. It’s interesting, because it takes you to a place you wouldn’t imagine to find the sober Duff to be at again, but he is and it immediately becomes glorious.

Where the previous book had something cathartic to it, something confessional while remaining light, this one is flat-out funny at times. Duff has a miraculous amount of self deflating jokes lined up and keeps tricking the readers. He takes you into one direction, only to baffle you by switching it all around on you. This book could actually count as an inspirational book, it gives good advice for people trying to find out what to do is right. As long as you take things with a grain of salt. A great read for music fans and allround humans.

Roddy Doyle – The Commitments

source: goodreads.com

You might have seen the film. I think I have, but I’m not sure so I’ll rewatch it. This writing debut of Roddy Doyle takes Irish English to new hights in a street-talking music adventure with the rowdy youngsters from Dublin getting into soul music. Jimmy Rabbite is approached by some of his mates to help them set up a band. He agrees but only if he can manage them. This turns into an interesting journey for the young folks, who actually do what most bands do: break up before they make it. It’s a great story, written in a language that every reader can easily relate to, with a lot of cool references to music.

Doyle is Dublin through and through and you can read that in the manner of detail and local references. This could not have been written by a thorough study. There’s a raw realism to the writing, to the story as well. Nothing is overblown or overly hefty, it’s all normal stories but told in such a natural way that you’ll be captivated. I’m not even sure if that’s the language, but maybe simply the form of a continuous narrative. I’ve really enjoyed reading this, though I went through it so fast that it was over before I knew it. The story of The Commitments, bringing soul to soul-starved Dublin.

Peter Criss – Makeup to Breakup: My Life in and out of Kiss

source: goodreads.com

Peter Criss succeeds in the one thing, that no other Kiss biography did. His former bandmates all managed to end it on a high note, where they were sort of the good guys (except for Gene, because he doesn’t care). Peter Criss manages to make himself look like an even bigger dick than any of the others put him down as. His book reads as that of a man, who contradicts himself every step of the way (sometimes with only a few lines between them). Everything is the fault of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley and Criss goes at them with a vengeance. At the same time he never shies away from giving his piece of mind about other people surrounding the band, apart from the ones he likes. Those are all cool with him it seems (some people just escape his wrath).

At the same time, Criss constantly laments the bad luck that befell him throughout his career. It makes him sound bitter and sad about things. He reveals stuff about people, that are just not done (particularly the sexual skills of his wife were not necessary). In thaqt way he tries to legitimize the weirdest stuff, like with Lydia the fact that he couldn’t get her to do weird stuff in bed made cheating, drinking and drugging fine. That being said, Peter Criss’s biography has a rawness to it, the others lack. There’s an honesty that makes you doubt the three other books. Yet again, he seems to say conflicting things with all three other books and sometimes his theories are so far out that it makes no sense at all anymore.  A great read though.

Robert B. Cialdini – Pre-Suasion

source: goodreads.com

Sometimes you find these marketing books that are inspirational at the same time. This book by Robert Cialdini is a tome focussed on the act of pre-suasion, of priming your target to the persuasive message that is to come. It’s a gentle nudge in the direction that you wish to take the reader in. It makes for a fascinating read and Cialdini has a way of writing that is very engaging and accesible. Honestly, to read this book you don’t need to be a marketing genius. There’s advice that can help you in daily situations you might be struggling with.

Cialdini uses plenty of examples to clarify the point he is making, which is not too complex. The dense amount of data that the author produces to support the theory is though, which is what makes this books so singularly powerful and convincing. There’s something there for sales people, marketeer, policy pushers and project planners, but also for teachers, managers, coaches and people that simply wish to get more done. It’s really well worth your time to check out this highly enjoyable book. Revolution only needs the right nudge.

Reading of Books #27

There’s just too much material that I would want to read, so these are the latest books I enjoyed reading. Magnus Magnusson, Nick Hornby, Marc Eglinton and Lars Brownworth were my reading victims this time.

Adam Nergal Darski/Marc Eglinton – Confessions of a Heretic: The Sacred and the Profane: Behemoth and Beyond

source: goodreads.com

Let’s get one thing straight, I’ve read many books by musicians, but listing Nergal as an author on this is not correct. He’s the subject of the book and most of the words are his, but he’s an interviewee here, not the writer. This is highly suggested in the promo surrounding the book, but as he himself would say “people should be more critical”. Originally the book was published in Polish, but Eglinton rewrote it in English. In a dense collection of interviews, Adam ‘Nergal’ Darski talks about his life, his views and his music. Nergal likes to shape his own image, which is that of a hedonist, a liberal thinker, a freedom fighter and more often than you think an alpha male. There’s a certain arrogance in this book, but it’s the right sort of arrogance.

As a fan of Behemoth, I found that reading this book made me like Nergal less. Maybe it’s breaking down the hero status, maybe it’s realizing there’s not that many connecting points. I did find my respect for the man growing with every page. The book humanizes him, but also shows that his whole iconoclastic attitude is just an expression. Nergal is no basement dwelling, goat sacrificing mad men, but a thinking, reading, reasoning man trying to find his own way in the world. It’s hard to imagine how his celebrity status works alongside his carreer as a black metal singer, but this book gives you an image. This book is a pleasant read and a lot of fun, but its just that for those interested in the man Nergal. If that is not interesting to you, this book will not make your knowlegde of metal any bigger. No need to pick it up for that reason.

Nick Hornby – Fever Pitch

source: goodreads.com

I love football. I tried to deny it for many, many years, but I have a profound love for the football game. The culture and all its aspects fascinate me. What I lack is  true fandom of one team, but once upon a time I had my room walls plastered with posters. That team was Arsenal from London. This is what attracted me to the book by Nick Hornby, an author I have not read that much from this far. This story is his personal recounting of how football had an impact on his life. On him and the way he turned out. From the day his father took him to see Arsenal his fate was sealed. The most boring team in the world defeated Stoke with a boring 1-0 win. It was enough to get hooked. Not even a visit to Tottenham could shake his allegiance.

Hornby uses certain games to illustrate phases of his life. He connects them to where he was at as a person and how it all made him feel. He describes a relationship between his personal well being and the clubs performance through the years, the cynicism that comes with being a football fan and the joy of a championship, It’s  a story of becoming an adult, becoming a person and growing up with a passion for football. No one, as far as I know, has ever put the place football has in peoples lives to words as good as Hornby does in this pleasant and enjoyable book.

Magnus Magnusson – Tales from Viking Times

source: goodreads.com

Many know Magnus Magnusson  as a Brittish tv-host of certain quizzes. This puzzling fact I found rather interesting about the man who has written extensively about the viking era of the past. Magnusson worked for most of his life as a journalist and translator, but the bulk of what he left behind comes from his origins. The writer was born in the Kingdom of Iceland. His birth was in the time when Denmark and Iceland were struggling to find a solution for the wish for independence. Magnusson grew up in Schotland, but writes about the ancient tales with a special kind of passion in this book.

Ths book deals with the traditional Northern stories and folk tales and is not just a collection of those works. In a fragmentary way Magnusson delivers segments of stories. Accompanying those stories are brief explanations about their roots and settings. This makes this book highly educatonal. The world view of the Northerners was strongly defined by these stories and really are a product of those. Magnusson takes ample time to give the right attention to this. It’s a pleasant collection presented as an audiobook, which is fitting. The saga’s work best when spoken. Even better around a fire.

Lars Brownworth – The Sea Wolves: A History of the Vikings

source: goodreads.com

Writing a history of the Vikings is a dense and complex task. Where to start and what directions to go in? Vikings travelled in all directions and there are many stories to be told. Do you wish to focus on their ferocity and the lasting stamp of fear or on their exploring and progressive nature? It’s a struggle for writers, but Brownworth chose to start somewhere at the start of their written history. In England and in France, where post Roman Empire some sort of civilization is arising. The sails they see at the horizon will test their mettle. Fierce plunderers and raiders arrive, who come from a shrouded history. The roots of the vikings are in the north, in their land that spawned them forth. What really starts the history we want to know, is their first raids.

Brownworth takes the reader down a  history that is part fact and part probably fiction, but how else do you tell the tales of Ragnar Lodbrok and his sons? How to speak of Ivar the Boneless and King Rurik of the Rus? The Viking age is an age of dragons and monsters, of  worlds unknown and undiscovered land like Iceland, Greenland and Vinland. The story of reconnecting the old empires and finding glory in Constantinopel and Kiev. Brownworth writes in different directions and picks up on other branches in following chapters. This allows him to create a story that is as diverse and spread out as the Viking influence. To really close the story, we end at Stamford Bridge, with the dead of the legendary Harold Hardrada. The sun then sets on the viking age in a beautiful history, really worth your time to read.

Reading of Books #28

Another edition of my book bit, with a lot of new books read. R.A. Salvatore is very present with the last two trilogies of Drizzt, Paul Stanley from Kiss and Duff McKagan from Guns’n’Roses. Totally not geek + music geek edition.

Books!

R.A. Salvatore – The Companion Codex (Night of the Hunter, Rise of the King, Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf)

source: Goodreads.com

In this series of books, we pick up the dark road that the party of heroes seemed to have ahead of them in the inbetween book ‘The Companions’. Drizzt is reunited with his Catti-Bri, his friends Bruenor, Regis and Wulfgar. It seems however, that war is brewing everywhere and the Orcs are marching with support of the drow. The Silver Marches are besieged by the thousands and cities fall. The dwarves are locked in their underground citadels and no one seems to be able to push them forward. That changes when Bruenor Battlehammer picks up his plight as king among dwarfs. When he starts listening to the whispers of the old dwarven gods and the counsel of his friends and fellow Dwarf kings.

In the most desperate situations the united dwarfs of the Forgotten Realms find their brightest moment. They unearth their greatest treasures after millennia. It is not an easy fight though and much will be lot and much must be sacrificed to get there. In these novels, the world turns a bit more dark and grim and many mechanisms seem to be at work. The wheels are turning and Drizzt and the companions of the hall find themselves in the middle of it all, but also in the middle of their own turmoil and demons. Salvatore creates the profound story that looks at a world, where good and evil are not such simple concepts anymore. What is war if one loses all that holds value? What is a war if you forget the values that you fight for?

Paul Stanley – Face the Music: A Life Exposed

source: goodreads.com

Paul Stanley has always been the most mysterious member of Kiss. His biography is one of the most anticipated ones among fans of the band. The singer has always been a bit of a puzzle for most people, but in this biography he is very open about himself. Even though at times it isn’t pretty and some band experiences come out, he manages to touch his readers. Paul Stanley is the first Kiss member to write a biography that leaves him standing as a victor in the end. The book is also not as filled with spite and dislike. I can’t say that for the other ones by Kiss members and that is a pleasant thing to be sure.

Paul Stanley describes his life from his early days onward. Being born with only one ear intact (and working), turns out to be the source of most angst and insecurity in his life. It’s the red threat through his whole carreer and experiences. Reading this, it outshines even all the fame and fortune. Everything related to the ear problems seems to be key in his development. The surgery to reconstruct it, the way he positions himself on the stage and in the end how he starts working for a childrens organisation. Sure, there’s the necessary amount of rock’n’roll extravagance going on as well. You’ll get some good stories about the women, sustance abuse (of others, since Stanley never really was the crazy one on that front) and quite some Gene Simmons. Pauls story is touching and captivating, never free of a good critical look at himself, but at times blissfully unaware of his own being and impression. A joyful read for sure.

R.A. Salvatore – Homecoming (Archmage, Maestro, Hero)

That was the respons I got from mr. Salvatore himself about my earlier thoughts on the series. Now, I did get here and after 33 books I was fearful for quite a few pages that all would end horribly in tears. For the characters, but also for me since after all this time I had become quite attached to the figures in the book. This whole series has the vibe of an endgame. Things are getting serious in here and that makes for some really daunting reads. Some surprising developments and character innovations take place and we all somehow get them together for a final push.

source: goodreads.com

We find Mithril Hall at peace for once, but things are always stirring in the Forgotten Realms. The drow in Menzoberranzan have not finished with their prodigal son. Internal power struggles literally open the gates to hell and demons flood into the realm. They happen to be causing more havoc to the drow themselves than to their enemies. The primordial under Gauntlgrym stirs and Yvonnel the Eternal is reborn. Facing these great enemies are our heroes; Drizzt, Catti-bri and Bruenor. Their other two friends are on a quest of their own, where Regis and Wulfgar will find great challenges and old companions on their road. Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxl site with the heroes…  but things get really interesting when a runaway archmage joins them and a very important priestess of Lolth. But what if your real enemy is within your own mind?

There’s a promise of more to come though. This is good, because I love these books. Unfortunately, mister Salvatore has announced he will not answer any questions on the matter for now.

Duff McKagan – It’s So Easy (And Other Lies)

source: goodreads.com

I’ve never really been a fan of Guns’n’Roses, but when I heard their bass player talk on the Danko Jones podcast about his book. I knew I had to read it. Duff McKagan is the epitome of cool, the laid back voice, the self awareness and self depricating jokes… In his book he is telling the world his story including all the stupid decisions, bad choices and all about the rampant drug and alcohol abuse that brought him to his knees and made him rise up again a new man. The book starts with the McKagan of now. He is walking out of the backdoor of his house during his daughters birthday party and finding two kids making out. He goes through a mental checklist of drugs, sex, alcohol and other things… it’s a funny opener and shows how comfortable McKagan is in writing about himself. Then the good stuff starts.

Duff McKagan is a Seattle-born musician. People sometimes forget that he was in a bunch of bands in the past. It’s good to get some info on that too with his early bands. Also a near death experience at an early eage seems to have contributed to his personality. The writing style is casual, almost off handed as if things just emerge and happened, but sometimes we get back to the internal monologue from the start. Especially when bad things happen. A rock’n’roll book with drugs and alcohol has a lot of grief in it. McKagan never makes light of that. He is funny when he talks about himself, jovial when it concerns weird things that happened to a bunch of guys and cordial when he writes about problems in the band. He always seems  to have the right tone for all situations, never goes down avenues of boring thoughts and just keeps this easy to read. One of the best rock’n’roll bio’s I’ve seen this far.