Reading and Listening

Well, things got a bit out of control and I am late, horribly late, on this week's post. So, rather than miss a week, here's a "what I'm up to" post.

What I'm Reading

I posted a note about reading The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki.

This book has taken over a considerable chunk of my concentration this past week. It's a remarkable story and a stunning example of craft.

The plot of Form and Emptiness is about a woman and her son, and how they deal with the loss of their husband and father. That's already a powerful story, but Ozeki skillfully fills 500+ pages (I'm just over halfway finished) with diversions and sidebars about Zen philosophy, the life of books, what objects have to tell us, and the futility and overwhelm of modern society. It's the proverbial "book about everything."

I can't recommend it enough.

What I'm Hearing

1990 was tough. It was my first full year back home after nearly eight in the Army. Leaving the military without a college degree means pretty much starting from scratch, which is never easy. But if you're old enough you might remember a weak economy that may have cost Bush Sr. his reelection.

Mix in my wife's unplanned pregnancy, followed by an immediate job loss, and it was not a great year.

I spent much of it driving, since where I worked and where I could afford to live were never near each other. So one of the only bright spots was the tape deck in the Toyota Tercel we brought back from Germany.

1990 wasn't good for Echo and The Bunnymen either. They released an album and it seems like I was the only person that liked it. Reverberation caught my ear as soon as it was released, and I played the hell out of it.

This weekend, PlexAmp generated a playlist based on The Smiths and Sisters of Mercy for me, and a track from it popped up. So, the entire album is in the current rotation.

I get it, hearing an E and the B song with someone other than Ian McCulloch on vocals is jarring, but this album still kicks. I was disappointed when I looked up reviews and found lazy stuff like this:

Reverberation would have been a great debut had Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson decided to operate under a different moniker.

So it’s a good album, but it’s different and that’s bad. I guess someone has to keep buying that album Green Day keeps recording.

Here's my favorite song on Reverberation. Hope you enjoy it.

Nature abhors a vacuum
I have read
Tell me how'd you explain
Your empty head
You hurt the one you love
Because you can
As if violence was a virtue
In a man

I promise a real post next week. On time.