Some old reviews

[roadrunnertwice]

Hope y'all had a good New Year! I spent mine installing a staircase, about which probably more anon. But in the meantime, here's a brief bookpost.

Max Gladstone — Three Parts Dead

Sep 6

OK, I like this series a lot. This was the first one, going by publishing order, but it's real strong right out the gate.

Alison Bechdel — Are You My Mother? (comics, re-read)

Nov. 11

I might just let my prior review stand for this one. Or better yet, don't even read my prior review; this is one of those books where it's probably best if you don't have any idea what you're getting into.

Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond — The Manual: How to Have a Number One the Easy Way

Dec 11

A long time ago, I heard a rumor that this manual existed, that Chumbawumba had obtained a rare copy and followed it to the letter, and that the result had been that fucking "Tubthumping" song.

Years later, I read a story about the KLF dumping a sheep carcass outside a record industry awards afterparty and then setting a literal £1,000,000 on literal fire, and it included a link to an old OCRed scan of this book, which I read half of immediately and eventually got around to finishing after a Goodreads update from Suzie reminded me of it.

I can't speak to the efficacy or feasibility of the method described here, but it was definitely an entertaining ride and a real intriguing time capsule of the British record biz in 1988. Short, fast, and weird.