It’s an amazing book but one I have absolutely no desire to revisit whatsoever. Cormac McCarthy’s prose was on some entirely different level.
However, if you want a bit of a laugh, see how bad a job he did with writing ‘The Counselor’.
Recently finished The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis, his best book since American Psycho. I loved it. Did half audio book, half hard copy - the audiobook is read by BEE and it really adds to it.
2 Likes
I bought his Border trilogy and gave up on All The Pretty Horses so I’m trying to at least get through Blood Meridian
Yeah I saw The Counsellor, bit of a dogs dinner wasnt it?
1 Like
I read it a long time ago and have similar memories…
1 Like
currently reading the Kevin Rowland book - Bless me father. About half way through and although he’s a good 10 years older there’s lots of references to places I knew growing up in north west London. He’s excruciatingly honest in places and makes little effort to excuse his often awful behaviour. It’s an excellent read/listen.
5 Likes
It’s all a bit grim and tawdry, not very balearic…
1 Like
Reading about Authors!
2 Likes
3 Likes
4 Likes
I’ve just finished Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine–highly recommended. A bit depressing, but eye-opening and a bit infuriating as well.
It’s funny, I only got on the Spotify train during lockdown thanks to those amazing TP playlists. I use it as kind of a musical bookmarking tool as I’ll hear a track on NTS or somewhere else and save it to Spotify. I also have a library of downloaded faves so I can stream on long flights. But I don’t fuck with their suggestions and playlists…
2 Likes
3 Likes
Good article but very much a white European narrative-
Flash and the Bronx dj’s pioneering these ideas but without the money and means to realise them does seem to get lost in these stories sometimes I feel
1 Like
Not reading but writing (apologies for the shameless self-promotion):
Some of you might remember I’ve mentioned The-novel-I-will-one-day-maybe-eventually-finally-publish ™ once or twice.
After much redrafting and many rethinks, it’s finally ready for me to find an agent and then a publishing deal.
Neither of these is a foregone conclusion. There’s lots of competition and currents in publishing are not flowing in my direction.
So I’m printing up some promotional copies in the hope that it might make me a little more visible, a little more marketable. I’m calling it a white label promo. Three hundred hardbacks. Hand stamped covers. Numbered. You get the picture.
Anyway, if you’re interested in learning a bit more about it and the shenanigans behind the scenes I have a newsletter. You can find the first instalment of it here.
I’ve also set up a thing on Substack where I’ll be posting essays, often music related. For the time being it’s just a few bits I’ve done for Dr Rob but I have some other, non-BBTT, articles in the pipeline. Hope to see you in whichever of these places appeals.
Thanks for reading 
24 Likes
There’s a good Bletchley Park doc. on the BBC at the moment about Gordon Welchman, somebody else who maybe didn’t get the credit they deserved.
3 Likes
My old place in Bletchley was one of the Bletchley Park terraced cottages on Church Green Road. Ours was built for the Drivers apparently.
#coolstorybro 
3 Likes
Best of luck mate. I’ve long harboured half baked dreams about being a published author, I’d be interested to see how you get on. Look forward to reading your newsletter
3 Likes
Thanks, Joe.
If you’ve been thinking of it, I’d encourage you to take the plunge. I wish I’d done it ages ago.
My one piece of advice - if you’ve not done it already - would be to join a writing group. My group - the people I did a course with a few years back - has been hugely helpful for all sorts of reasons. We still meet every month because we appreciate the mutual support and the feeling, I think, that we’re not doing it alone.
1 Like
Thanks so much for this recommendation - an absolute modern classic!
Visceral, stressful, bleak, funny & heartbreaking
1 Like
I’m listening to the audio book now and enjoying it. However, I’m finding his voice weirdly soothing. I keep on falling asleep and waking to something horrendous happening. It’s a weird experience
4 Likes