Grateful Dead

"on the road", been meaning to read it for three decades. yes, yes,,i do procrastinate slightly. kids got it for me for my b-day, i'm 3 years older than the book. it's unbelievable how it parallels life(s) that i('ve) know(n). and now i know the rest of the story! is there a sequel, i'd really like to see how the other my life turns out? ;)))

grdaed73 actually most of Kerouac's books are part of a series describing his life in semi -autobiographical form. But I think On the Road is the most exciting and fresh with the pure joy of living before he sank into the despair of an alcohol addiction. Other good ones are Desolation Angels and the Subterraneans My own favorite besides On The Road is The Dharma Bums which describes the beats in San Francisco and their interest in Buddhism and mountains and so much more and the beginning of the 60's counterculture (though there have always been countercultures). The hero of The Dharma Bums is Gary Snyder. Many of the people mentioned in Kerouac’s books are fairly well known if not famous writers. If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. William Blake

I am Kearney Street Books' publicist. Kearney Street Books is a small, independent publishing house which focuses on books about music. Currently, we are sponsoring free book discussions for Gary McKinney's new mystery novel, "Slipknot." "Slipknot" is a mystery featuring County Sheriff Gavin Pruitt, Deadhead. Set the year before Jerry Garcia's death, "Slipknot" takes place in picturesque rural Washington, and revolves around the murder of a politically prominent environmentalist - who was going to decide whether a local forest is logged or not. The future of the local logging industry is dependent upon the decision - but so are the lives of the wildlife within the forest. Gavin must figure out who the killer is, all the while quoting classic Grateful Dead songs, taking up jamming sessions, and dealing with his daughter's new "hippie" boyfriend. If you are interested in learning more about "Slipknot," there are limited free copies available. If enough people are interested, a discussion group can be started. This isn't spam - we just want to get the word out about a great book featuring the Grateful Dead. Since the music can be downloaded for free, why not allow the same in literature - except this offer is available for a limited time. (Again, this isn't spam - there will only be a few offers made at similar sites devoted the Dead) You can also read the entire first chapter of "Slipknot" for free at Kearney Street Books' website, kearneystreetbooks.com You can contact me for more information, Laura Clement

A Gun Totin, Dead Quotin Sheriff! Gang, we've got a mystery on our hands! PEACE

Sorry for the cross-posting, I originally posted this in Shakedown Street, but it really belongs in this topic which I wasn't aware of before. I just got done with a cowboy story entitled "Them Old Cowboy songs" by Annie Proulx (who wrote the original story on which "Brokeback Mountain" was based) that appeared in the May 5, 2008 issue of the New Yorker. After finishing the story I felt that it had resonances with "Brown-Eyed Woman" and "Jack Straw". Similar textures that gave me some of the same feelings as listening to those songs and to a lesser extent "Me and my Uncle". I thought folks who visit Dead.net might find the same resonances and want to know about the story. Be warned however that it is ultimately a sad and disturbing tale. Keep safe, Another Bear "Yesterday this day's madness did prepare."

Another writer who speaks to me in this way, that is resonates on "cowboy" themes within Grateful Dead music, is Larry McMurtry (the novel "Lonesome Dove", the biography of Crazy Horse). In some ways the resonance with McMurtry's work is stronger since his writing is less spare and has more saga-like story elements. "Yesterday this day's madness did prepare."

I'm an avid reader & see on this thread some stuff to check out.For myself, my favs are...everything by Tom Robbins, Tolkein, Vonnegut, Raymond Chandler, Kesey, Stephen King "A Confederacy of Dunces" "Handling Sin" (this is a comedy, btw) "The Godfather" "Been Down So Long It Seems Like Up To Me" "Gravity's Rainbow" "1984" "Brave New World" "A Clockwork Orange" "Dreamworld" "The Monkey Wrench Gang" "Lord Of The Flies" "The Old Man & Mr. Smith" As you can see, my tastes run amok when it comes to books.

...it's called "Inside Out". I've just started it so Syd isn't nuts yet, but Nick's writing style is humorous in tone (so far). William Gibson (the cyberpunk guy) has a novel out called "Spook Country" that started out a little slow but became very entertaining. Kept me guessing until the end. Honestly, "Gravity's Rainbow" gave me more than one headache but I should probably read it again, I understand it's an important novel. Other than that I've been catching up on comic books, err, "graphic novels". Warren Ellis' "Transmetropolitan" is a great series, the lead character is kind of Hunter Thompson in the near future. Anything Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman (gotta read the Sandman series) is terrific. Both of these guys have also written "legitimate" novels - Alan Moore's "Voice of the Fire" is uber-creepy; Gaiman's "American Gods" and "Anansi Boys" are both excellent. There's a book version of the PBS documentary Ken Burns "Jazz" that you should read, or at least skim through. Cheers, MitD

I admit it's pretty funny that I'm just getting around to reading the Harry Potter books now, but, to make a long story short, after a lifetime of reading my favorite author's latest opus in a hour and a half and realizing I had to wait at least a year for the next installment, I vowed not to read any of them till they were all out. I've seen all the movies though. So I finally finished off the last one and withdrawal is definitely setting in.

I'd read a "Harry" book when it came out (well, after my sister bought it), then by the time the next book came out I'd have to read the one before again to remember what was going on. That last book got kinda tedious though, until near the end. ********************************************* I have a sigfile! --> www.kindveggieburritos.com *********************************************

Hell's Angel by Sonny Barger, If you are not familiar Sonny waspres of Oakland HA for years was friends with Jerry, Anyway good book, interesting stuff about that scene in the late 60's and altimont etc.

his other book "ridin' high, livin' free" is pretty good too. was published about the same time period. probably can be found under ralph "sonny" barger. sonny is now a member of the cave creek chapter (ariz?). moved cuz of his health.

johnman, yea I pretty familiar with the Sonny story, actually met him at a HA club house in italy. Also funny story couple years back I was a Drill Sergeant and one of my privates was his godson. I was in a local tavern having some beers and was BS'n with some women anyway she was telling me her son was about to graduate from C-3-10 and I said that's my company, she told me the name, She had AFFA tats and conversation wnet from there. Read the book by Hunter S. thompson about when he hung with them for a year but I didn't think it was really that good the bio one was better.

"The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs" - Hunter's book was pretty good, I thought, although he did spend a lot of time discussing how dirty the Angels' jeans were. Didn't realize the Maximum Angel had had throat cancer (honestly thought he was already dead), and that the four years he did in the fed pen back in the late 80's was for conspiring to blow up the Outlaws' clubhouse here in Louisville. I'm gonna have to cruise around and see that place. And of course it being the 21st century, Sonny has a homepage! ********************************************* I have a sigfile! --> www.kindveggieburritos.com *********************************************

Yes it's called "Sonny Barger Lager", I've got can he intialled. Hunters book was ok, But you are are rightMark about the jeans thing and the beginning with all the journalist crap. I also thought that for hanging around with them for a year there might of been more content, there probably is but he didn't write about it. Maybe cause I read the bio one first. Anyway good stuff. Also like Hunter's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, great movie too.

Just finished this story in three nights. That's about ten times faster than usual. Very intense post-apocalyptic vision of a father and his son trying to survive in a burned out world. Written by Cormac McCarthy, author of No Country For Old Men. This was an amazing journey of survival and love under the bleakest conditions. The world will never appear the same to me. Looks like this is to be a movie. Should be interesting. Next book is Arthur C. Clarke's 2061. I did not know there was a third book in this series until I happened to see it in the library. Bought the hardcover for $2. Then i'm going to read The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy. Also reading some poems from the Dylan Thomas collection. Amazed! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Walk into splintered sunlight Inch your way through dead dreams to another land" Robert Hunter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Ray, a drop of golden sun"

Hey Marshun Family, Good Season to all of you. The Road by Cormac McCarthy is an outstanding book. I've read everything he has written. The Border Trilogy is excellent, especially the story about the boy who takes a wolf his Dad and him trapped back to Mexico, where she was from. I await his next book......may there be many. Peace, Docks

I have such a vivid -- and dark -- picture of this book in my head, that I can't imagine a movie doing it justice. Maybe filmed in black & white?

I appreciated the bio from Hal R...last summer I read Clarke's "Foundation" trilogy for the first time: serious Sci-Fi! I saw "2001: A Space Odyssey" on a wide screen in Washington DC (1968) thanks to my father who was a fan of Stanley Kubrick. We are still a long way from realizing the potential of space travel, even inside our solar system!Jay

Foundation Trilogy = Isaac Asimov, not Clarke. There are several novels continuing the Foundation mythos after the original trilogy, that eventually incorporated Asimov's "Robot" novels, and several other authors have added stories/novels to the Foundation universe, but Arthur wasn't one of them. Just thought I'd throw that in there. ********************************************* I have a sigfile! --> www.kindveggieburritos.com *********************************************

definitely one of the formative bits of literature in my life. The main thing I remember about it now, of course, is the awful moment when they get to the great archive and have no appropriate player to retrieve the information. Definitely a metaphor for our times...to say nothing of a cautionary tale.

...maybe somebody will have a PS3 laying around!********************************************* I have a sigfile! --> www.kindveggieburritos.com *********************************************

I was 17 yrs old rummaging through 10-cent paperbacks in a booth at the County Fair in my small rural Maine town. I found "Rabbit, Run". Bought it, brought it home and read it. And read it again. And read it again. Yeah, I was hooked. Updike taught me the beauty and the art of prose like no one I'd ever read, and especially like nothing I'd ever read in school. He published something like 50 books...I know that I have more than 30 of them sitting on my shelf. His passing means that the last of my favorite writers from my youth and young adulthood are gone: Vonnegut, Brautigan, Kesey, Asimov, Clarke, Herbert, Heinlein (I still bounce between sci-fi and more literary fiction). The books from these guys: "Rabbit", "Slaughterhouse-Five", "Trout Fishing in America", "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", The Foundation Trilogy, "Fahrenheit 451", "Dune", "Stranger in a Strange Land"....and others, of course, buried themselves in my head. Tinkered around for years in there, finally rewiring my brain to its current configuration, shaping my ideas and desires and opinions to a greater extent than anything besides my family, and music. There have been many favorites since, but the passing of the last of these Greats marks the end of something for me. Always loved, never, ever forgotten

I got carried away and forgot the other of my guys -- Joseph Heller. "Catch-22" was a major revelation for me. And apparently I have a thing for novels with numbers in the title.

Has anyone else given any thought to how perfect Morning Dew would be as a theme song for the movie of The Road? I personally have given this way too much thought - wondered if anyone else had the same association?

Just finished reading CASH, really dug it! Very insightful! Had to look up a bunch of old Country folks he played with. I had never even HEARD about the Dyess Project until I read this book. HA HA, now I feel like I'm on Reading Rainbow!! Lovin Levar Burton :) PEACE

for anyone whose ever been 'inside' anywhere, especially moving: "San Quintin, do you think I'll be different when you're through?" man oh man... Cash was one of the best. peace.

Hey--I was just glancing through these posts. I think I'm going to have to find After Lucy--it sounds good to me. And I was going to list a few of my favorite books, but someone got to most of them ahead of me. I loved Michael Chabon's Kavalier and Klay, TC Boyle's Drop City (I'm working on the women right now), Russell Banks' --Rule of the Bone. Roddy Doyle is another favorite--I love the A Star Called Henry series, have to see if the last of them is out. I read all those books about being in the British Royal navy by Patrick O'Brian. If you like being addicted to stuff, it's weird stuff to be addicted to. I pretty much lost a year of my life to that slog. Anyway--I'm just saying.

OOOH - Rule of the Bone was a wonderful book, I'll bet a lot of folks on this site would love it!

Ayn Rand-Anthem and of course Atlas ShruggedThe Foundation Trilogy A Tree Grows in Brooklyn The Road to Serfdom A Soldier in the Great War- an amazing love story A Spaniard in the Works and In His Own Write Dune My Anotonia How was Jerry' s book? And the road goes on forever.... BobbaLee

Tree Spiker: From Earth First! to Lowbagging: My Struggles In Radical Environmental Action by Mike Roselle with Josh Mahan. Mike and Josh were in town last night and I got a copy of this new book with stories of Mike's years of environmental activism. Looking forward to reading it and seeing how Mike remembers some of the same events and actions that I was involved in. Bob Weir wrote a blurb that is on the back of the book. "Are you itching to have a little fun, maybe get on some people's nerves, help save the planet, and have some stories for your grandkids (if you live)? Want to get fired up about saving the palnet? Get this Book!" It is just in hardcover now from St. Martin's Press but there will be a paperback version out. If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. William Blake

I just started re-reading this today. I'm thinking I'm going to try to read Ulysses, and I figure before I start that, I'll ease into a Joycean state of mind by starting with Portrait of the Artist. Anybody out there actually read (and finished) Ulysses? Am I setting too high a goal?

i've read ulysses several times. if you want to be academic, i advise you to get a good guide book to help you. you can do that, or just trust yourself that it all makes sense in that weird joycean stream of consciousness way... then, of course, it you watch rodney dangerfield in back to school you can hear part of the last chapter in the breathy tones that so stirred him! gotta love that part (and the triple lindy... ) good luck! caroline

So I threatened to start this thread in another post, but it does exist, so... Currently reading an advance copy of a book due out in February. It's called The Bricklayer. Ok, decent action thriller book. No Nobel prize winner or anything, but as the hero is a bricklayer in Chicago named Steve, and my brother is a bricklayer in Chicago named Steve, I thought I should give it a look and send it to him when I'm done. Share your Grateful Dead Tattoo or just poke around http://gratefuldeadtattoos.blogspot.com/ http://onthebus91.blogspot.com/ http://chinacatbooks.blogspot.com/

In no particular order... Jasper Fforde Christopher Moore Kurt Vonnegut Robert Heinlein Next on my bedside table... Patriots by James Wesley, Rawles Share your Grateful Dead Tattoo or just poke around http://gratefuldeadtattoos.blogspot.com/ http://onthebus91.blogspot.com/ http://chinacatbooks.blogspot.com/

Neil Young's Biography by Jimmy McDonough......almost done.....all i got to say is "wow"..

Ectasy Club by Douglass Rushkoff as a recreational read..The Hero With A Thousand Faces by William Campbell as an academic read.. Definitely a lot of repeats from other posters, The Foundation, Starship Troopers, has anyone recommended The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy? All Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Robbins.. ah yes .. and .. William S. Borroughs, Word Virus ... annd ... Don Miguel Ruiz, Chuang Tzu and Carlos Castenada and I hadn't even heard of it until just this second but I am lookin for a copy now, Everything We Know is Wrong, John Perry Barlow ...the sum of all probabilities is equal to one...

Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Friedrich Nietzsche) Tao Te Ching One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest 1984-George Orwell The Giver + the new Giver quintet books (awesome) 1984 is one of my favorite books of all time. Orwell's work is really the blueprint for all the dystopian books (Hunger Games) popular today. The Giver and 1984 together make for powerful and uncanny insights regarding the socialist societies of today and tomorrow. :)

Naked Lunch, Junky- BurroughsLiving with the Dead- Scully Salior Song- Kesey

Hi, I am currently reading this book. Anyone familiar? It's a 1971 interview with Jerry. Excellent first person account of so many great things about the band, the scene, the vision. It's really answered so many long lasting questions and interestes I have had. Highly recommended. I would be very much interested in discussing the book with anyone out there???? Thanks

Indispensable. You've got a treat in store, dated '70s stuff and all.