) presents... the odango...magazine () presents...
the odango...book recommendations
Fiction
Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon
A 'Gravity's Rainbow' Companion : Sources and Contexts for Pynchon's Novel
Mason
& Dixon, by Thomas Pynchon (hardback)
Mason
& Dixon, by Thomas Pynchon (paperback)
Sentimental Education, by Gustave Flaubert
Music
Funk
: The Music, the People, and the Rhythm of the One,by Rickey
Vincent, George Clinton,
All about the wonderful thing known as funk. Funk is so
generous, allowing the musician to play "long...slow"
songs which are greatly improvisational in nature. Check
out James Brown. Take a listen to Parliament, Funkadelic,
and the various other efforts of the genius known as George
Clinton. Might I even say Miles Davis in the early
seventies? It seems that a lot of groups were doing that in
the early 70's... sounds so good.
George
Clinton and P-Funk : An Oral History (For the Record), by
Dave Marsh, David Mills, Larry Alexander
Parliament is Good, to say the least. George Clinton is
an incredibly good musician. Here, finally, some history of
the bands we know and love, and can dance so well to.
Listening to their music can be mood changing, turning you from a
grumpy person into a cheerful soul, ready to get down and do what
you want to do.
Mike's
Corner : Daunting Literary Snippets from Phish's Bassist, by
Mike Gordon
Being a big fan of Mike Gordon when he's playing bass, Gordon
also found himself regularly laughing at the column that
came with just about every copy of the Doniac Schvice that
arrived in Gordon's mailbox. These were the tales he read
as he was trying to figure out how to do mail order. Get
this book. It's quite a good read, late at night when the
power goes out and all you have is a candle you made yourself out
of wax from mini-cheeses.
The
Phishing Manual, by Dean Budnick
Gordon really adores this book. This book tells you information you never knew about that delightful Vermont quartet. Gordon read it cover to cover countless times, and he still felt like reading it some more after that. (And babbling on about it to everyone afterwards.) You could say that he was extremely pleased with the book, which was quite a bargain as well.
Psychology
No
Boundary : Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth
The
Road Less Travelled, by M. Scott Peck, MD
The Road Less Travelled is one of the very few books about psychology that can actually be read and understood without resorting to a dictionary twenty times a page. It was fun to read, one could almost say. The situations discussed in this book made it seem like he was talking on the same level with you, not condenscending in some pompous manner. It's not overly preachy, either. One might find onesself learning things without even realizing it until applying book situations to their own life.
Stewart, Martha
Good
Things : The Best of Martha Stewart Living, by Martha Stewart
This is a great book if you want to give a gift but don't want
to splurge huge quantities of money plus you want it to look home
made. When you want to make it look like you care, this
book is the place for many of the questions you might have.
An excellent book, by all means. This is also wonderful for
entertaining, gardening, homekeeping, and all those other
wonderful things we'd love to do in our spare time. Well,
some of us, anyhow.
How
to Decorate : The Best of Martha Stewart Living, by Martha
Stewart
Do you look around the house and think, "Boooring...."? This book is a remedy for the BB's, the Boring Blues. How does it accomplish this? By telling you how to spruce up your house, how to use colour to change the mood of a room entirely, how to fix up your windows so that they enhance the room, etc. And...the all important... how to make a bed. That alone could be reason enough - many people make their beds just like Gordon does (now)... too sloppily.