The Book Club- What We Are Currently Reading, January 2025 Edition

[@joebrezel]

*Pete* We will be WAITING for your biography... Pete Pardo - Dark Takes of Drama & Twisted Debauchery. 💯 🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@marctoupin3968]

I really dig this new show, Pete. Great to find some new stuff to read, music-related or not. Can’t wait for the next episode.

[@stephenyoung5079]

Why the hell have I never watched this SOT show before?? Great stuff, loved it, Will be catching up and watching future shows. Got to get those Chaney books.

[@Pizzageek-jc4xp]

i think this show is a brand new one.

[@seaoftranquilityprog]

@@Pizzageek-jc4xpit’s not new.

[@garyjoyce2160]

Ralph and Pete/ a fabulous combo. Thanks guys for your time 👍💯

[@countralfus6408]

🤘

[@garyjoyce2160]

Ralph/. Happy/ HEALTHY new year my friend 👍💯

[@countralfus6408]

@@garyjoyce2160 same to you brother 🤘

[@martymartin2894]

I really enjoyed Anthony Bourdain's shows I watched them all. Their is a rumour that he may not have intended to kill himself when he hanged himself, it has been suggested that he may have been practicing something called auto erotic asphyxiation or something like that.

[@kevinplair6760]

One of my favorite shows with one of my favorite panelists, Ralph. Happy New Year fellas. I just started The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larsen

[@kevinm5957]

Just finished Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino. I’d been on a 70’s action movie kick when I spotted this book. Tarantino goes through 1970’s cinema that shaped his life. Great stories about his life and his memories of seeing these movies is almost photographic. From mainstream hits like Dirty Harry and Taxi Driver to more cult like films such as Rolling Thunder and Hardcore, Tarantino provides an entertaining look into his childhood and love of movies.

[@donaldanderson6604]

If anyone out there hasn't read The Rotter's Club by Jonathan Coe then go for it. Named after the Hatfield album ,it is a brilliant account of life and prog in the 70s in England. I squirmed with recognition many times.

[@monkeyhousescouse]

Well a NEW show - nice! 🎉 Here's two books 📚 I'm reading and ONE I just finished. I just finished Moby Dick, by Melville. What a dense but amazing tome! One of those books to read before you die. Reads like a whaling manual... I'm now reading Balzac's Old Goriot, part of his 'human comedy' series and also reading none other than Martin Poppff's JUDAS PRIEST ALBUM BY ALBUM - a birthday prezzie from my other half 💙!!! 😊

[@countralfus6408]

This is the 4th episode of the Book Club, they come up sporadically, no set schedule for this show.

[@tommyaddison6539]

Somehow have missed this one….love any content on books!! Good stuff!

[@Claymore5]

Great show guys - interesting choices of books. Just finished the book about the making of Conan The Barbarian - loads of shots in that which I'd never seen before (along with some amazing Ron Cobb concept art). That leads me nicely onto my next read which is a volume that is nothing but Rob Cobb artwork and designs for various film projects which goes into the thinking behind them.

[@JoeChewBaca]

Like the new segment! I started reading again in the middle of last year after a multi year break and am currently reading three collections: Abyss - Two Novellas by Kate Wilhelm I, Robot by Isaac Asimov No Direction Home by Norman Spinrad Read about Five other books and collections since I started up again. They were: The Invincible by Stanislaw Lem Dark Carnival by Ray Bradbury (the book that got me back into reading again) The Book of Fritz Leiber by Fritz Leiber Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison(absolutely LOVE this one!) Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe Also the short story: Snuffles by R. A. Lafferty Liminal Spaces has a good channel on Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy. Mostly in the weird vein.

[@seaoftranquilityprog]

Not new, we've done a few others.

[@JoeChewBaca]

@seaoftranquilityprog I must have forgotton about them, lol. Will this be a more consistent/monthly segment now?

[@seaoftranquilityprog]

@@JoeChewBacalikely every other month to allow us to read stuff.

[@JoeChewBaca]

@@seaoftranquilityprog Right on 👍

[@aruiztech]

I'm not a book reader, but this was very interesting. The Phil Collins book. I didn't know he struggled with alcoholism. I heard a couple of things but didn't realize the extent. Thank you.

[@mikemclintock3893]

I received Volumes 1 and 2 of The McCartney Legacy for Christmas, just started reading Volume 1, 30 pages in. Each book is about 700 pages so they will keep me busy for a bit. Between the two they cover his solo years from 1969 to 1980. McCartney is my favorite artist of all time so I plan to devour these now that I have started them. As Pete said I immersed myself in the McCartney album last night while reading last night and will pickup with Ram tonight. Great show!

[@ykmgeedee]

Thanks guys! Just finished Martine Batchelor's Women on the Buddhist Path that focuses as much on their lives as on ideas, but bottom line meditation transforms their existence. Currently on Mark Harris' The Southpaw -a novel pretending to be an autobiography of a pitcher's journey from semi-pro league in a fictitious town near Pete's home to the big leagues -1953 first edition gift from my uncle!

[@BBann-u9e]

Wonderful show, great topic Cool reading, cool pictures, more information about what we love as fans. Keep this going moving forward.

[@lateramae]

I read Geddy Lee's autobiography and it got me into Rush. So, of course, I bought most of their albums and I read the 'Anthem' book, which I enjoyed, as well, because I look up to Martin Popoff and I'm a fan of the band's '70s catalog. I also read Glenn Hughes' autobiography last year, which I thought was great, especially when he talked about his relationship with Linda Blair because I love 'The Exorcist' (1973). I'm currently reading 'Charlie's Good Tonight,' which is a biography about Charlie Watts that came out in 2022. Looking forward to the next episode, guys!

[@anthonycaruana7552]

great show.. I totally agree when you said that reading books about musicians, make you want to go listen to the music.... and it sometimes gives you a new insight to some of the music as well.

[@stephenyoung5079]

Just ordered that Godzilla book on Amazon here in the UK. A whopping 42% discount on the retail price, Whoo Hoo😊

[@brianzawistowski5743]

Great discussion. Highly recommend all of Neil Peart's books, would start with Ghost Rider. Alan Byrne also published a book, Are You Ready Thin Lizzy Album by Album, that is a worthy read. Another great book is Phil Lynott: The Rocker by Mark Putterford, hard to find. Phil Collins book was excellent, Steve Hackett's autobiography was also good, though not as much detail. Recently read autobiographies by Wayne Kramer (excellent), Rik Emmett (ok) and Steven Wilson (very good). Next read is Chrissie Hynde's autobiography, got for $1 at a thrift store. Happy reading.

[@Pizzageek-jc4xp]

Just started reading '100 years of solitude' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (the outstanding series is on Netflix now) It's long been considered one of the greatest books ever written, and I totally understand what all the fuss is about. Just amazing writing.

[@stephenbrown4211]

Just finished reading Imagine That by Julia Baird. Julia is John Lennon’s half sister and this is a fascinating book on Johns childhood and his relationship with Julia and her younger sister Jackie. Also their relationship (or not) with Aunt Mimi. Some great insights including The discovery of Johns other half sister who was adopted

[@hrothgar64]

I usually have 2 books on the go any any one time. One is my 'main book' and the other is something I can dip in and out of when I'm taking erm... my 'morning constitutional'. My main book at the moment is part 3 of a trilogy called The Night's Dawn Trilogy by British SF writer Peter F Hamilton. They are 3 very big books (over 1200 pages in each book) and is a massive 'space opera'. I'm about 100 pages into book three, The Naked God, having read books 1 & 2 (The Reality Dysfunction and The Neutronium Alchemist) prior to this. My 'toilet read' was a book of musicians quotes called Jabber Rock. It features everybody from Elvis Presley to James Hetfield talking about subjects as diverse as life, religion, music, death and all points between. The problem I find with books of quotes is that they can be taken out of context and the person can come across as a bit of an arsehole. Two people fall into that category in that book: Sting and Elvis Costello.

[@32a34a]

I am currently working my way through Jo Nesbo's newest Harry Hole novel Killing Moon. Very under rated writer as well as the entire Harry Hole series.

[@marclesperance4116]

I finished reading the first Harry Hole novel about a month ago. It was in a French translation - I’m French Canadian - so I don’t know what the English title is but in French it’s called « L’Homme Chauve-Souris » (The Bat-Man). Curious what is the English title. It was a great little neo-noir. I’m a sucker for Scandinavian crime novels. 🙂

[@32a34a]

@@marclesperance4116 It is called The Bat. Interestingly the second novel is called Cockroaches.

[@stephanechamberland8486]

The autobiography of Phil Collins is great ! He did a 2 hour interview on the Drumeo KZbin channel which is a must watch. A really great archive.

[@seaoftranquilityprog]

Yep, I mentioned that show.

[@rickschricter]

This was excellent. Have not read the VH book mentioned here but have read Sammy Hagar's book "Red". Regardless of what you think of him (I don't like him per se), his story is pretty entertaining. He scrapped his way up.

[@stevenleblanc9628]

Ray Bradbury opened the door to reading for me. I was deeply influenced by the 1st 4-5 books by him I read, but letdown by his work after the early 1950s. All his books proclaimed him the greatest SF writer, but the later books had me wondering , where’s the SF? His fiction turned mundane. Recently I read Ray Bradbury Unbound by Jonathan R Eller. I learnt in the 50s onwards Ray’s ideals on SF & space continued developing, but he no longer put much energy into fiction, which was what he was best known for. Instead he put his ideas on SF & space into articles & poems. I want to learn more about this, so I ordered later books by him, books about him, movies, a radio play, soundtracks, etc. Today I started reading a book of poems, articles, etc by him since that’s where he expressed his later thinking on SF & space. I don’t like poems, so I’m struggling understand them. Also, today I listened to Christus Apollo, which is a SF story by RB set to Classical music by Jerry Goldsmith, with a choir singing the lyrics. I understood nothing. All of this, reading poems, listening to Classical music with choir, is not easy for me. I’m tempted to say to hell with it all, but I will struggle to better understand. The reason, Bradbury made a deep impression on me when I was a kid. There's a frustrated teen in me urging me on: find the SF & space in RB, find the SF & space in RB...

[@simonhicks3060]

Thanks Pete, thanks Ralph. Great show. So many books, so little time. Just finished a Jeff Beck Biography-Hot Wired Guitar. Covers his life up to 2011. I'm currently reading a bio on Jack Bruce. I did enjoy you covering non music books.

[@fattymcfatso1083]

I highly recommend The Ox by Paul Rees. Very well written. Plenty of Moon the Loon stories. Nice section of b/w photos.

[@tylerpatterson4787]

Just recently got this book for Christmas Alex Van Halen book “Brothers” can’t wait to read it

[@independenceltd.]

I knew what book Ralfus was talking about right away, cuz I have it too; "Cowboy Song: The Authorized Biography of Thin Lizzy's Philip Lynott". Great book.

[@threepistols7]

really enjoy hearing about what music-related books folks are reading!

[@seekah1]

The Neil Roadshow book was a great read Ralph if you're interested. Would love to see a Stephen King ranking with you two in the near future?

[@scottmcgregor4829]

One of the mist anazing books about Bill Graham Presents. For a rock promoter , Bill Grahm had a life that was more amazing, than any Rock star, all of the point views from all of the staff at the Fillmores and Winterland was crazy. There are even some stories about Sir Lord Baltimore. Bill would book shows that were Diverse in the extreme. Some hilarious shows were the Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa and the Mothers, and Jethro Tull with Rashad Roland Kirk. Grateful Dead and Alman Brothers stories were amazing with all involved. Thus anazing show.

[@matthewJarnigan-m7g]

I go through phases when it comes to reading, right now I'm on a US history kick and the last book i read was A Man of Iron: the Presidency of Grover Cleveland by Troy Senik

[@Joefaf104]

I saw Lon Chaney Jr walking with the Queen

[@lahloonatic]

Great new addition. I would love to participate.

[@zoef234]

Great segment gents. Hope it continues👏👏

[@floyd75dylan]

That was a brilliant show. Would you possibly be venturing into reviewing your favourite horror novels sometime in the future?

[@alexposilkin9683]

While listening to Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Collosal Podcast, I learned about a great book called The Jaws Log by screenwriter Carl Gottlieb. It chronicles how the production of Jaws was a complete disaster, and how it almost ended Spielberg’s career before it barely started.

[@petebrown3715]

Yeah I've read the Neil Pert book " Ghost Rider". Awesome read.

[@leeallsopp5152]

Such a great show! Well done fellas 👏 Pete I. A huge King fan too and try to keep up to date but I have Insomnia, the outsider, the institute and Billy Summers sitting on the shelf because every summer I go back and read Joyland.. I’d love for a movie adaptation of that 70s coming of age style story. I got Bourdains first book Kitchen Confidential for Xmas :) and also recommend ‘ what fresh lunacy is this’ - Oliver Reeds biography, pure madness 🤣🤣

[@vincentwojdacki7211]

Nice new programm!!! Congratz!!

[@seaoftranquilityprog]

It’s not new…we’ve done a few already.

[@txmatt2112]

Great show yall

[@chrisflood9205]

best book of 2024 was raise your glasses every kiss song rated martin was in book too . i only read music and comic related books these days so excellent show

[@JoelPrice253]

I just finished Donald Westlake' s Call Me A Cab. It was great to have a "new" book from Westlake. Currently I'm about a quarter of the way through Wu Cheng'en's Monkey, translated by Arthur Waley.

[@inmyhouse11]

Would love to see The Count write a book on the History of 80s Thrash Metal with his vast collection of killer albums.

[@FinalBaton]

I love the idea of collecting fanzines in a book! So rad. Also did you guys read the Quebec metal book "No Speed Limit"?

[@countralfus6408]

Yes , I own & read No Speed Limit 🤘

[@paulbrown6733]

great show

[@Scandolo]

We also celebrate the Three Kings' day in Spain! You also should, Pete! Having Spanish blood running throu your veins ;)

[@franciskocher200]

Nice tee-shirt Ralph.😃👍🤘

[@bobsala7780]

I just started reading The Count of Monte Cristo. Check back with me in 6 months to find out how it is, because it's 1,500 pages long.

[@knightvisioniixv]

That is a FANTASTIC book! If it isn't my #1 favorite novel (I'm fairly certain it is), it's second or third. And good on you for _not_ going for any of the abridged versions. Once I started reading that book, I could not put it down - for a 1,300-page tome, it grips you right from the start. I read it during a winter that took place a little over a decade ago (not having seen any of the film adaptations, even to this day) and it blew me away. The ending - I won't spoil it for you, don't worry - was a little underwhelming, but it didn't even matter all that much. If you're really brave, at some point, tackle Dumas' 'd'Artagnan romances'; most think they only consist of The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask, when in actuality, they were two parts (the beginning and the end respectively) of a sprawling trilogy. With the final book being around 2,000 pages (and depending on region), it is separated into three different sections (books.) It goes: 1. The Three Musketeers 2. Twenty Years After 3. The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later (The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Vallière, The Man in the Iron Mask.) They must be read in that order if you want to keep up with all the characters, details, the intrigue, etc. Going from The Three Musketeers to The Man in the Iron Mask will leave you totally lost, and missing TONS of context. Just like my experience with The Count, once I started, I couldn't put _any_ of those books down. I read the d'Artagnan romances over the spring and summer months following the winter I read The Count.

[@bobsala7780]

​@@knightvisioniixvThanks for the recommendations. I was not aware of the reading order of Dumas's other books. The Count of Monte Cristo is the first book of his that I am tackling.

[@knightvisioniixv]

​@@bobsala7780Absolutely! Hope you enjoy The Count of Monte Cristo - it was my first Dumas read as well.

[@johnrichards927]

Awesome dudes

[@peterock4210]

Any Jazz fans? Reading a new book : 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane,Bill Evans and the Lost Empire of Cool. Excellent bio of these three giants and the Kind of Blue recording.

[@FinalBaton]

The 2 black metal books interest me. I'm curious what the author of the first one has to say, even though he's a strange dude. I'm sure it's fascinating to read his side.

[@donnybrookdetritus]

Love this as a recurring show! I’m hoping for a Stephen King ranking one day

[@pruttel71]

3 kings day is january 6th, pete

[@independenceltd.]

I'm only talented enough to read one book at a time, and that book Is The Beatles: The Only Authorized Biography by Hunter Davies

[@christianhaynes1954]

That's a great book 👍

[@independenceltd.]

@@christianhaynes1954 yes, enjoying it immensely.

[@VincentBautista365]

Three Kings Day Monday January 6th.

[@ivostoyanov4850]

Asimov ,Analog science fiction magazines !!!

[@countralfus6408]

I got a few of those 🤘

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

I'M CURIOUS TO KNOW: WERE ANYBODY LIKE ME BACK IN THE 80S THAT DISCOVERED THE ROCK BIOGRAPHIES THAT PUT YOU ON THE ROAD TO WANTED TO JUST READ AND READ MUSIC DOCUMENTARIES AND AUTOBIOGRAPHIES AND JUST MUSIC BOOKS IN GENERAL This is where I started I originally back in 8th grade read the love you make about the Beatles freshman year in high school the classic now Led Zeppelin book Hammer of the gods And then the Danny sugarman no one here gets out alive the Jim Morrison story It was that trifecta when I found those actually at the library when I actually discovered the music section I was just blown away And to this day I still buy stuff left and right what did I buy currently over 2024 a bunch Kenny loggins biography The Tom Petty interviews The Michael McDonald Paul reiser compilation fantastic read Eventually I'm going to try to save up a little bit and buy some a few popoff books to I've read a few of them because they're actually at Barnes & Noble. It was neat last time I went there I was looking to buy geddy Lee's big bass book was like 85.00 and there was pop off book sitting right there on the same shelf at Barnes & Noble very cool! I read some of Martin stuff I've never owned any of his books personally. But it was very cool But I'm curious to see how many like me with my Trifecta the beginning of rock biographies than anybody read those and did it hook you or were you reading music like big books before that?

[@countralfus6408]

I mentioned as a kid how Hammer of the Gods was the book to read but I should have also mentioned that Doors book as also being an important one 🤘

[@nicholasscott7860]

I love to read about an artist and follow along listening to the album based on the chapters. Did that with Rush, Bruce Springsteen, Black Sabbath and Dream theatre a unique way of going down a rabbit hole.

[@fattymcfatso1083]

Interesting that you mention those books. The best written Rock books I ever read were Hammer of the Gods and No One Here Gets Out Alive.

[@alternativepreacher4516]

The Book of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa

[@peterock4210]

Any Jazz fans? Reading a new book : 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane,Bill Evans and the Lost Empire of Cool. Excellent bio of these three giants and the Kind of Blue recording.