New acquisitions. 🙂
Three books: Nero: The Man Behind the Myth by Richard Holland, Dialogues and Essays by Seneca and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
Nero has acquired a reputation as a tyrannical leader, although this biography presents a more nuanced account. He was quite enlightened and civilised and sought to rule in peace and not in the militaristic way of of his predecessors. Also, there is no evidence that he himself set Rome on fire.
Seneca was Nero's tutor, a Stoic philosopher. Here he writes about several timeless philosophical issues.
This book was quite seminal when it came out, as it exposed the shocking conditions of the gulag to the rest of the world. Khrushchev himself had it published during the 'thaw,' an attempt to recognise the excesses of the Stalinist period.
New acquisitions. 1/2 👍
Two books: El proyecto Chile: La historia de Los Chicago Boys y el future del neoliberalismo by Sebastián Edwards and El pensamiento político de Jaime Guzmán: Una biografía intellectual by Renato Cristi.
I'm currently in Chile over a month (visiting my sister, her partner and my new nephew), so I thought that I'd buy books about Chile. I have become more interested in its political, social and economic history, which is especially interesting.
In this book, Edwards writes about how Pinochet appointed the Chicago Boys. They initially had a free market program designed for Chile as far back as 1956. Initially, when the military dictatorship came into power in 1973, Pinochet had nationalist, authoritarian and protectionist principles. However, Milton Friedman came in with his 'shock therapy' treatment in 1975 so as to contain raging hyperinflation.
Chile still had very high unemployment, poverty and inflation for a long time. Indeed, in 1982 the banks collapsed and they had to renationalise many parts of the economy. Edwards says that this economic program would have been voted out during a democracy. However, during the late 80s things started turning around and they had high economic growth. However, it really took off during the return to democracy under the centre-left coalition government. They presided over growth rates of 7% which significantly reduced poverty. However, they also introduced social programs which helped with this. Chile went from being a mid-tier country to being the country with the largest GDP per capita in Latin America and it later joined the OECD.
However, it has had a lot of social and economic inequality and not enough social mobility, which Edwards acknowledges is a problem (it did go down a bit under the Concertación governments, though). There were a lot of protests during 2019 for precisely this reason and a hard-left government was voted into power recently (though they have moderated themselves whilst in power).
Jaime Guzmán was a minister during the Pinochet Government and he wrote the controversial constitution in 1980. Whether or not one agrees with his politics, he was an interesting figure. He read a lot of political philosophy, which informed the constitution. He was assassinated by a hard-left group in 1991, a year after the return to democracy. It was the the first (and only) political assassination following the return to democracy.
New acquisitions. 2/2 👍
One record: The Shape of Jazz to Come by Ornette Coleman
This is one of my favourite albums ever, so I was delighted to run across it in a record shop in Santiago. Coincidentally, I was even wearing my Ornette Coleman t-shirt at the time!
Here are all the books that I read I read this year. 👍
https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2025/5993530?fbclid=IwY2xjawRte9xleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA80MDk5NjI2MjMwODU2MDkAAR7O-6ot885WAxo22fsxcktl1_UHDipEHjuNh83qsfuJq4QX9EXzkvSAtQOMiw_aem_XUpKpTND67xrMnIG5WFJmQ
New acquisitions. 🙂
Six DVDs: The Magnificent Ambersons by Orson Welles, Badlands by Terrence Malick, The Thin Red Line by Terrence Malick, Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola, Come and See by Elem Klimov and Home from Home: Chronicle of a Vision by Edgar Reitz.
New acquisition. 🙂
One record: One Size Fits All by Frank Zappa.
I was thinking recently that I'd like to own this on vinyl. I was pleased to run across it at a record shop in Chesterfield. It was reasonably priced, too (£13), so it made complete sense to purchase it.
New acquisition. 🙂
One book: Igor Stravinsky - A Creative Spring by Stephen Walsh.
I bought this book about Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. I have over a hundred books in my 'to-read pile' (which is why I want to stop buying so many books), however I have a section of musical biographies in this pile. I have one on Bartok, so I thought that I could read this one on Stravinsky afterwards.
This is part one of two volumes, chronicling his early life in Russia and later France, when he has his earliest and most iconic pieces performed. I thought that it'd be interesting to read about the premier of The Rite of Spring, which caused a riot. He is one of the most distinctive composers ever, let alone the modernist period, so it'd be cool to read this.
New acquisitions. 🙂
Six CDs: Symphony No. 8 Unfinished/Symphony No. 5/Rosamunde: Ballet Music No. 2 by Franz Schubert/Slovak Philharmonic/Michael Halasz, The Best of Wagner by Richard Wagner, The Best of Erik Satie by Erik Satie, Switched-On Bach by Wendy Carlos/J. S. Bach, The Essential Cole Porter by Cole Porter and Spiderland by Slint.
I thought that writing volume four would be overdoing it a bit, but then I don't really have much of an audience, so I might as well write whatever the hell I want (within reason).
Oliver Cromwell
Luther
Doris Lessing
Frank Zappa
Don van Vliet
Alaric
Jorge Luis Borges
Julio Cortázar
Eric Dolphy
Mel Brooks
David Lynch
Igor Stravinsky
Irene
Pablo Neruda
Anton Von Webern
New acquisitions. 1/2
Two records: Out to Lunch by Eric Dolphy and Angels and Demons at Play by Sun Ra.
I encountered these records a couple of weeks ago, but I was running low on money. I was paid today, so it was more than propitious to buy them today.
This album by Dolphy is fantastic. It's free jazz, but it has some great melodies and the playing is rhythmic, dynamic and precise.
I also ran across several Sun Ra records. There were a couple that I already own on CD, but I thought that I'd buy one that I hadn't heard before. He released hundreds of albums, so they can't all be corkers, but I recognised the cover of this one, so I'm sure it's good.
New acquisitions. 2/2
One book: Another World - The Oxford Years: A Memoir.
This book was published a day ago. I saw reviews of it online, so I went to Waterstones today to buy it.
This is a sequel to his previous memoir, which was about him growing up in Cumbria in the late 40s and early 50s. In this second volume, he writes about attending Oxford in the late 50s. He won a scholarship and it was quite rare for someone from his humble working class background to attend this institution at the time. I'm sure that the third volume will be about him working for the BBC and I'll buy that, too.
New acquisitions. 🙂
Six DVDs: 12 Angry Men by Sidney Lumet, The Battle of Algiers by Gillo Pontecorvo, Summer with Monika by Ingmar Bergman, Smiles of a Summer Night by Ingmar Bergman, Winter Light by Ingmar Bergman and The Silence by Ingmar Bergman.
New acquisitions. 1/2 🙂
Seven CDs: Perotin by Perotin/The Hilliard Ensemble, Solo Cello Sonata/Duo for Violin and Cello by Zoltan Kodaly/Yuli Turovsky/Elonora Turovsky, November Steps by Toru Takemitsu/Kinshi Tsuruta/Saito Kinen Orchestra, Four Classic Albums by Freddie Hubbard, Speak No Evil by Wayne Shorter, Spiritual Unity by Albert Ayler and Live 1993: Batschkapp Frankfurt by The Fall.
New acquisitions. 2/2 🙂
One book: Sex and the Intelligent Teenager by Colin Wilson.
I'm getting through some Colin Wilson books at the moment. He is generally seen as an author that you read in your angst-laden teen years, but you later grow out of him. I never read him as a teenager, but I'm really enjoying reading him in my mid-thirties, which probably means that I am either a perpetual teenager or insufficiently sophisticated. Perhaps both.
I was looking at books in his bibliography and I found the title of this one very intriguing. I don't know how you can take a concept like this and pad it out into 192 pages, but I'm still looking forward to reading it.
New acquisition. 🙂
One book: Sparta - the Rise and Fall of an Ancient Superpower by Andrew Bayliss.
I've bought this book about the ancient Greek city state Sparta. It subjected its citizens to brutal military training and subjugated an underclass known as the Helots. They were led by two kings. It would also be interesting to read about how they helped defeat the Persians alongside the Athenians. Of course, it would also be interesting to read about the ten-year war that they had with Athens. They were envious of Athens' burgeoning trade and wealth and the success of their Confederacy. Their society has echoes of fascism and Hitler mentioned Sparta in his speeches. It was an authoritarian culture which, unlike Athens, did not leave a lasting cultural legacy, although Plato preferred the way that they organised their society to Athens. All in all, I'm looking forward to reading this.
New acquisitions. 🙂
Six CDs: Kammermusik by Paul Hindemith/Riccardo Chailly/Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tant-Schulz by Mauricio Kagel/Rundfunk Sinfionieorchester Saarbrucken, Out of the Cool by The Gil Evans Orchestra, Karma by Pharaoh Sanders, Reign in Blood by Slayer and Dr. Octagonecologyst by Dr. Octagon.
