Mike's Updates en-US Fri, 25 Apr 2025 09:46:32 -0700 60 Mike's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7497129462 Fri, 25 Apr 2025 09:46:32 -0700 <![CDATA[Mike added 'Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses']]> /review/show/7497129462 Waiting on the Moon by Peter Wolf Mike gave 3 stars to Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses (Kindle Edition) by Peter Wolf
Liked It. Didn’t Love It

I liked parts of this book but overall I was a bit disappointed. I guess I have certain expectations when I read a rock star’s memoir and this just didn’t meet them. I want to know how the band came together. How you landed that first record deal. What creative spark brought about your biggest hits. What did it feel like the first time you heard one of your songs on the radio. These types of things. Peter Wolf seemed far more interested in listing his who’s who of famous people he’s gotten to hang out with rather than providing the background into those life changing moments. His one chapter history of the J Geils band, which appears late in the book, seemed superfluous.

So yeah, it was cool hearing about how he came to know everyone from Andy Warhol to David Lynch and from Van Morrison to Bob Dylan, and the details of his marriage to Faye Dunaway, but in the end I wanted more about him and his career. Morrison is a great example. After Wolf details their friendship he mentions an argument that caused them not to speak for years until the fences were mended, with not even a hint about what the disagreement was. Also, Wolf’s early artistic passion was painting but at some point he turned his focus to music He never offers a reason why or even if he returned to painting later in life. That’s literary negligence if you ask me.

Books like this usually lead me to doing a deep dive into the artist’s music. Wolf talked so little about his own music the only thing this memoir turned me on to is the Them song “Mystic Eyes.� It’s an awesome proto-punk track that I’d never heard before so I guess for that I should be grateful.

3 out of 5 stars from me on this. Sorry I can’t say more good things about it. ]]> Review7474232573 Thu, 17 Apr 2025 16:53:19 -0700 <![CDATA[Mike added 'Dead Money']]> /review/show/7474232573 Dead Money by Jakob Kerr Mike gave 4 stars to Dead Money (Kindle Edition) by Jakob Kerr
A Solid Thriller

This was a solid thriller about a tech CEO is who is murdered in his office and the investigation into the crime that follows. There were moments that were a bit unbelievable but sometimes you gotta suspend reality for the sake of a page-turner. Overall I really enjoyed this book and the finale at Burning Man was a pleasant surprise and made for a colorful and entertaining ending. If you’re looking for a good murder mystery novel I’d recommend this one. ]]> Review7415551154 Wed, 09 Apr 2025 13:49:14 -0700 <![CDATA[Mike added 'The Picture of Dorian Gray']]> /review/show/7415551154 The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Mike gave 4 stars to The Picture of Dorian Gray (Kindle Edition) by Oscar Wilde
A True Classic

I’ve seen the film version of The Picture of Dorian Gray twice now and really enjoyed it so I figured I’d read the source material. Oscar Wilde, poet and playwright, is not known for his prose. This was actually printed initially in 1890 in a literary magazine before Wilde added some to it and published it as a novel a year later.

Dorian Gray is a handsome young man who sits for a painting session by Basil Hallward. The artist is clearly infatuated by Gray and though the homosexual tendencies in the novel are latent they are discernible. Wilde was himself a gay man. He led a tortured life in Victorian England and even served time for “gross indecency for homosexual acts� so the modern reader can understand why he tamped down the gay stuff.

When Hallward is done with the painting, his friend Lord Henry Wotton comments to Gray that he will come to despise this portrait in the future because as he ages and loses his youthful appearance, the painting will forever remind him of how glorious he once looked. Gray says a prayer that the opposite will happen, that the painting will wither and age while he will be forever young.

His prayer is answered.

When a woman Gray breaks up with kills herself he spirals out of control, becoming self absorbed and reckless, visiting opium dens and seedy dance halls. Years go by and he retains his youthful looks while the image of him in the painting, which he has stored away in a locked room, not only ages but becomes grotesque as it portrays his wicked ways. When Hallward insists on seeing the painting again, Gray murders him. In the final scene Gray decides to destroy the painting to regain his soul, slashing it with a knife. I’ll leave out what happens next so as not to spoil everything.

The story itself is intriguing but the real attraction is the humorous and insightful Lord Henry Wotton. Wilde uses him as a literary device to sprinkle in such epigrams as “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about� and “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it� and my favorite: “To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable.� Wotton is one of those rare characters in a book who’s so dynamic the story suffers when he’s not in a scene.

I gave this 4 out of 5 stars. The novel lags a little in the second act and the prose can be a bit challenging as many books written over a century ago can be. But overall I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who’d like to read a “classic� psychological thriller. ]]> ReadStatus9287982557 Tue, 08 Apr 2025 19:52:41 -0700 <![CDATA[Mike is currently reading 'Dead Money']]> /review/show/7474232573 Dead Money by Jakob Kerr Mike is currently reading Dead Money by Jakob Kerr
]]> ReadStatus9286747842 Tue, 08 Apr 2025 13:41:32 -0700 <![CDATA[Mike finished reading 'The Picture of Dorian Gray']]> /review/show/7415551154 The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Mike finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
]]> UserChallenge59044463 Wed, 02 Apr 2025 00:00:19 -0700 <![CDATA[ Mike has challenged himself to read 36 books in 2025. ]]> /user/show/23461108-mike-walter 11627
He has read 13 books toward his goal of 36 books.
 
13 of 36 (36%)
Create your own 2025 Reading Challenge » ]]> Review7434329657 Sat, 29 Mar 2025 07:24:39 -0700 <![CDATA[Mike added 'What Just Happened']]> /review/show/7434329657 What Just Happened by Richard Hell Mike gave 5 stars to What Just Happened (Paperback) by Richard Hell
I’ve gone down a Richard Hell rabbit hole of late. It started when I wrote an essay about his brilliant song “Blank Generation� and it’s taken me to reading two of his most recent books simultaneously. I finished both on this vacation.

What Just Happened is a collection of poems he wrote while quarantined during the pandemic. Hell is in his 70s now and some of these poems speak of loneliness and a longing for his youth. The saddest moments are when he expresses regret because regret gets exponentially worse with age. When you’re in your 20s or 30s you have a lifetime to make atonement. But as the end gets closer the window to turn things around begins to close and Hell is not only keenly aware of that fact, he writes eloquently, if painfully, about it:

Forty years ago when I
was a junkke I craved
something to believe in.
The feeling has returned
but now
I know I won’t find it.

And even worse (from Advanced Age):

It’s awful
to realize that one can no longer assume
bad behavior was aberrant
I’m not the person I thought I was.

I think Richard Hell is one of the most important musical artists of the 20th century. Like all true punk rockers his career was meteoric and short-lived (Iggy Pop being the notable exception). If “Blank Generation� was the only thing he ever did he’d still be essential to the punk rock story. But he’s much more than just his greatest song. Without him CBGBs is still playing obscure blues music and The Ramones and Talking Heads (et al) have no club to play their sloppy, loud music in. Without him there’s no Pistols and without the Pistols everything that happens in rock and pop music from Bollocks on is different and by different I mean suckier and blander and more predictable.

I usually end my reviews by recommending a book to a certain kind of reader but I don’t know anyone who would actually enjoy these two books so in the spirit of punk rock, piss off, don’t read either of these. ]]> Review7320990433 Sat, 29 Mar 2025 07:24:12 -0700 <![CDATA[Mike added 'Massive Pissed Love: Nonfiction 2001-2014']]> /review/show/7320990433 Massive Pissed Love by Richard Hell Mike gave 5 stars to Massive Pissed Love: Nonfiction 2001-2014 (Kindle Edition) by Richard Hell
Vast and Fascinating

I’ve gone down a Richard Hell rabbit hole of late. It started when I wrote an essay about his brilliant song “Blank Generation� and it’s taken me to reading two of his most recent books simultaneously. I finished both on this vacation.

Massive Pissed Love is a collection of essays and other ramblings he’s penned on everything from movie reviews to how sex is better on drugs. Hell is so well read his references often go way over my head (which then cause me to go down even more artistic rabbit holes [like the hour I spent looking at Marilyn Minter’s strange and erotic art work]). There are plenty of insights and witty asides in this book like: “My personal definition of God is ‘the way things are’� and � I wasn’t choosing doubt and suspicion and despair, I was taken there by reality� and perhaps my favorite (even if I barely understand it) “A rock and roll show is about the audience agreeing to surrender to the band in such a way that the band gives back that which it’s received from the crowd in the form of the crowd’s pleasure in itself, in the form of the crowd’s ideal of itself, of its own glory (as personified by the band’s front man).�

I think Richard Hell is one of the most important musical artists of the 20th century. Like all true punk rockers his career was meteoric and short-lived (Iggy Pop being the notable exception). If “Blank Generation� was the only thing he ever did he’d still be essential to the punk rock story. But he’s much more than just his greatest song. Without him CBGBs is still playing obscure blues music and The Ramones and Talking Heads (et al) have no club to play their sloppy, loud music in. Without him there’s no Pistols and without the Pistols everything that happens in rock and pop music from Bollocks on is different and by different I mean suckier and blander and more predictable.

Hell is a New Yorker. He moved there in the late sixties and he’s lived in the same East Village apartment for half a century. His writing is often of and about the city, whether the subject matter is directly about New York (like his beautiful essay Dawn in New York) or just informed by it. I usually end my reviews by recommending a book to a certain kind of reader but I don’t know anyone who would actually enjoy these two books so in the spirit of punk rock, piss off, don’t read either of these.



]]> Review7320990433 Sat, 29 Mar 2025 07:22:31 -0700 <![CDATA[Mike added 'Massive Pissed Love: Nonfiction 2001-2014']]> /review/show/7320990433 Massive Pissed Love by Richard Hell Mike gave 5 stars to Massive Pissed Love: Nonfiction 2001-2014 (Kindle Edition) by Richard Hell
Vast and Fascinating

I’ve gone down a Richard Hell rabbit hole of late. It started when I wrote an essay about his brilliant song “Blank Generation� and it’s taken me to reading two of his most recent books simultaneously. I finished both on this vacation.

Massive Pissed Love is a collection of essays and other ramblings he’s penned on everything from movie reviews to how sex is better on drugs. Hell is so well read his references often go way over my head (which then cause me to go down even more artistic rabbit holes [like the hour I spent looking at Marilyn Minter’s strange and erotic art work]). There are plenty of insights and witty asides in this book like: “My personal definition of God is ‘the way things are’� and � I wasn’t choosing doubt and suspicion and despair, I was taken there by reality� and perhaps my favorite (even if I barely understand it) “A rock and roll show is about the audience agreeing to surrender to the band in such a way that the band gives back that which it’s received from the crowd in the form of the crowd’s pleasure in itself, in the form of the crowd’s ideal of itself, of its own glory (as personified by the band’s front man).�

I think Richard Hell is one of the most important musical artists of the 20th century. Like all true punk rockers his career was meteoric and short-lived (Iggy Pop being the notable exception). If “Blank Generation� was the only thing he ever did he’d still be essential to the punk rock story. But he’s much more than just his greatest song. Without him CBGBs is still playing obscure blues music and The Ramones and Talking Heads (et al) have no club to play their sloppy, loud music in. Without him there’s no Pistols and without the Pistols everything that happens in rock and pop music from Bollocks on is different and by different I mean suckier and blander and more predictable.

Hell is a New Yorker. He moved there in the late sixties and he’s lived in the same East Village apartment for half a century. His writing is often of and about the city, whether the subject matter is directly about New York (like his beautiful essay Dawn in New York) or just informed by it. I usually end my reviews by recommending a book to a certain kind of reader but I don’t know anyone who would actually enjoy these two books so in the spirit of punk rock, piss off, don’t read either of these.



]]> Review7434328298 Fri, 28 Mar 2025 11:33:22 -0700 <![CDATA[Mike added 'The Unworthy']]> /review/show/7434328298 The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica Mike gave 3 stars to The Unworthy (Paperback) by Agustina Bazterrica
Took a while for this book to start moving and when it did the plot was just ok. Agustina Bazterrica is a fantastic writer and it’s her prose that kept me turning the pages of this post-apocalyptic novel in which a few of earth’s survivors have been cloistered in a sadistic convent where punishments include stripping and rolling around on broken glass or cleaning the floors with one’s tongue. What happened to society is only hinted at but it seems a combination of climate disasters and A.I. domination have wiped out most life on the planet (so, like, 2030 or so). A few humans, and of course, cockroaches, have somehow endured. The ending hints at optimism and perhaps life slowly returning, but the book ends before we ever find out.

3 out of 5 stars for me. Recommended if you like dystopian literature and/or have a lesbian nun fetish. ]]>