Hi all. Here are my gradually unreeling thoughts on reading "great books," as well as some representative lectures from my old online classes. We aren't running the online workshops anymore so I can focus on unproductively-bathing full time!
I just finished Revolutionary Road (in fact, while master bathing.) Wow! The writing is the pleasure that kept me going through the whole inevitable house fire. Readable but rich. Rich but readable. I’m glad you hipped me to Master Yates. The whole book is brilliant. Chef’s kiss at the John Givings insane asylum character!
@pragjyotishbhuyangogoi83632 күн бұрын
Collier is so fun to read! Thanks for recommending.
@Scottmbradfield2 күн бұрын
Oh glad to make a convert. His stories have entertained me many times apiece! Nice hearing from you, Prag! s
@leefer19553 күн бұрын
Enjoyed your energy. Suttree is a "place you go" my all time favorite. Ulysses (Joyce)is SECOND
@Scottmbradfield2 күн бұрын
Thanks for dropping by the bathtub, Leefer. I was surprised by how good SUTTREE is, I only read it for the first time recently... s
@williambell37163 күн бұрын
Scott I am glad to see you are reading Chesterton he is brilliant! I implore you to read his short story The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown and his two novellas, The Man Who Was Thursday and The Napoleon of Notting Hill.
@Scottmbradfield2 күн бұрын
I don't know "Major Brown" but did like THURSDAY when I read it many years (decades!) back! Can't help seeing its influence on Lafferty... s
@bluewordsme25 күн бұрын
seeing that ms and i have just returned from dinner and packing for our anniversary trip, what a pleasure...i agree, Trudeau is amazing during the Regan years...at the time (i was in highschool and university), Trudeau, along with Larson (far side), Groening (life is hell, pre-simpson), Watterson and Schultz were my fave comic authors....but for political commentary, few match doonesbury in the 80s....and yea about collier again....id love to gift you complete Far Side or Calvin. & Hobbes to go with your schultz and doonesbury...and i've always wanted to tell me you always remind me of Calvin...and i thought of it more clearly when I read History of Luminous Motion, that Phillip is totally Calvin, which means yes, you are calvin, still ...even all grown up...is Lucky (or dodo) Hobbes>......anyway, when my better half and i come, eventually again, i will give you a copy......be well SB and thanks for the congratulations wish on FB...best we received.....stay safe...bb
@Scottmbradfield2 күн бұрын
Never got into Calvin but read and reread Far Side many times, probably as big an influence on my fiction. as PEANUTS! s
@Scottmbradfield2 күн бұрын
Happy anniversary!!!!!!!
@bluewordsme22 күн бұрын
Thanks Scott. Yes, far Side still in my living too. 3 huge editions. You should do another review of Schultz and Larson. 🍷💛
@Scottmbradfield2 күн бұрын
@@bluewordsme2 someday... I wrote a longish piece on Schulz possibly back before you arrived at the bathtub: newrepublic.com/article/162580/charlie-brown-america-peanuts-snoopy-politics-book-review
@bluewordsme22 күн бұрын
Great, and long, essay. Read it Trudeau airport. Thanks Scott
@excelsiorathletic5 күн бұрын
I've just finished 'White Noise.' I couldn't see the point at all. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind. I picked it up in a book swap in France.
@Scottmbradfield2 күн бұрын
Yeah I can see that. When it came out I thought it was hilarious, but then I assigned it for a class and had trouble finishing it!
@williamgass92425 күн бұрын
Would you say the title for the Bee Gees album The Spicks and the Specks doesn't age well?
@larrycarr45625 күн бұрын
Speaking of horror and beyond human help… I’m reading Paris Trout by Pete Dexter… such a specimen of the inhuman, with the real story the lawyering & manipulation of truth & law in the portrayal of institutional injustice &the American way. A quite disturbing book.
@Scottmbradfield2 күн бұрын
Interesting, that book has a lot of fans. I never read it or Dexter yet... s
@larrycarr45622 күн бұрын
National Book Award 1988 for Paris Trout, I read God’s Pocket a Philadelphia story, fictional somewhat based on his experiences as columnist for a Philly paper. He also is the author of Deadwood.
@larrycarr45625 күн бұрын
Self deprecation if done with the right degree of humor is an art form of the highest order. Charles Portis comes to mind. Don’t know Collier… I guess I should.
@Scottmbradfield2 күн бұрын
You would almost certainly love FANCIES & GOODNIGHTS, seems like your sort of book...s
@TimMcLain-rf3vj5 күн бұрын
Seeing your copy of The Shrinking Man brought back some memories. I bought that same edition by mail order after seeing an ad for paperbacks in the mag Famous Monsters of Filmland, many years ago. Alas, my book is long gone, the result of an unsecured loan, no doubt to some neighborhood knucklehead. And yes, John Collier is a writer to cherish.
@Scottmbradfield2 күн бұрын
Yeah it's such a cool book, and so funny! Your old issues of Famous Monsters would probably fetch a few bucks today! I met Ackerman once, he gave me a free book of stamps... s
@manifestdust6 күн бұрын
Just discovered your channel. Delighted by this Priest coverage (tho disheartened a bit by how few views its had). For me, he was (passed away recently) one of the most important contemporary literary writers in English. And The Separation the best novel I know from the first decade of this century. A sui generis 'alternate history" novel.
@Scottmbradfield6 күн бұрын
Yeah thanks, I love The Separation... always interesting writer... I did a more recent talk on The Glamour which is also v good... welcome to the bathtub! s
@yusefasabiyah4958 күн бұрын
"Click Testing" can help you sell more books, and bath tubs.
@LeftySniggins10 күн бұрын
The film adaptation of The Unsleeping Eye is indeed French, though it was mostly shot in Glasgow: "La Mort en direct" (Bertrand Tavernier, 1980), called "Death Watch" in English. & yes it stars Harvey Keitel, but it's also got Romy Schneider, Harry Dean Stanton, and Max von Sydow.
@bluewordsme210 күн бұрын
love Crazy Like a Fox....and sooo happy young (and elders) will now discover Crews....Crews memoir is called A CHILDHOOD...and is extraordinary.....SA Crosby is a fabulous young writer from N. Carolina who writes brilliant thrillers in a literary and gorgeous language fashion--perfect bathtub reading...love that your promoting young writers and indie presses....the Blackwood books sound awesome.....thanks scott.....
@Scottmbradfield10 күн бұрын
Yeah, CHILDHOOD was a hell of a book, but I've enjoyed everything Iever read of Crews. Putting KNOCKOUT ARTIST on my TBR shelf (if I can find it underneath all these damn books!)
@bluewordsme210 күн бұрын
@@Scottmbradfield hahahahahah...i know that feeling (all the damn books)...and Crews Childhood should be mandatory reading in america and for all writers....a better memoir? hard to thiink of one...hugs to you, mrs. and lucky and dodo....bb
@excelsiorathletic10 күн бұрын
Thanks for the mention, Scott! I'm not a professional swimmer but I am a sports coach. 'He can write' made my day. (Each time I left a comment with a link to 'The Poster' it got deleted!)
@Scottmbradfield10 күн бұрын
Glad we finally got to it! Excelsior! s
@marciawolfsonray403210 күн бұрын
Thank you for mentioning the Penguin reprints of Harry Crews!! One of my favorite authors. The Gospel Singer has been out of print for so long. I am glad to now be able to read it again. David Ray
@Scottmbradfield10 күн бұрын
Any time, David. Crews always deserves attention! We talked about him in one or two previous episodes as well... s
@reaganwiles_art11 күн бұрын
Woody Allen's first writing gigs were to provide jokes for Perelman, among others, which went unaccredited of course; Allen was still in high school.
@Scottmbradfield10 күн бұрын
That sounds right... Allen's comic pieces for New Yorker always reminded me of Perelman... s
@jakebraff839911 күн бұрын
Really enjoyed your video! Big Ross Thomas fan and feel like he's sort of underappreciated these days
@Scottmbradfield10 күн бұрын
Thanks for dropping by the bathtub, Jake! Where Ross Thomas is always close to the suds! s
@larrycarr456211 күн бұрын
A word of warning. Stay away from post apocalyptic reading it causes extreme wrinkling in the 🛁…
@larrycarr456211 күн бұрын
☁️ Cloudland Revisited 🛁 sounds lovely…
@Scottmbradfield10 күн бұрын
It is a perfect title for that fun little book... s
@immaterialimmaterial519511 күн бұрын
Nabokov is arguably the best novelist in the English language after Joyce. His own life story is quite simply AMAZING! Do check out the KZread documentary film of him from 1965 where he is living in Montreux, Switzerland, where he explains his card index method of writing.
@yusefasabiyah49512 күн бұрын
You've got to admit it is feeble to kiss the sky, but only to get a career going.
@yusefasabiyah49513 күн бұрын
If we add to the battle, we add to the bard, the scribe, the sribble, the bibbler, the blessed, the scrivener, the Bible billionaire, bibbler, the bather, the craver. I'm not aware of how much Cormac sat in on the movies, which I love, and hope to see more of. Perhaps I could, in a cloud, if it comes to that, love him more, if I saw him credited with a screen play or two, as the bloods of meridian flowed into, and flowered him, on his recent death bed. How did Cormac spend the royalties? Thank the mercy of God on not himself becoming royalty. Perhaps he turned them over to Ophrah. He could have done worse. Ophrah is with us, and looking at her trim figure, going to be for a long, long, time. She is, as is Yoko Ono, or for that matter, Madonna, a billionaire. Swing city. Literature is swing city, as is a modal, melodic harmony, in two keys.
@timmc844413 күн бұрын
Just read a time travel story by farmer..was never familiar with him before
@Scottmbradfield12 күн бұрын
Farmer is pretty uneven but sometimes he's great fun. s
@barbaratarbell60614 күн бұрын
Don't miss The Doctor's Son, a short story about Pottsville PA, John O'Hara's own hometown ❤️ ❤️.
@Scottmbradfield14 күн бұрын
It sounds familiar, but I've read so many great O'Hara stories over the decades I can't quite tell them apart...s
@scoon211719 күн бұрын
Thanks fellow masterbaiter
@Scottmbradfield19 күн бұрын
You're welcome, Mystery Gator! s
@yusefasabiyah49519 күн бұрын
I am entitled to speak for the wild, wild west. Cormac is here with me now, and likely to be highly critical of his poop being made into a film. I was down there in the west, and I hate scribes. Cormac wasn't a scribe, nor a journalist. He was a down home, meaning he had a gig on a little print setting, unthinkable mechanical lonesome -- searching for a home. We blessed, into the west, as a blossum, into a bosum, into a bossum, blowing a whistle into the jism of a brothel. Why? You go flock into box office of a cinema flick? Cormac went sprite into delight. You take your girl, not into the night, but into the free flight, the western, the sun, the sleep of a new moon arising. The outhouse, the coffin, the act of pooping, or giving birth, worth nothing, swept away by -- -- get this! A new nation, under god, conceived in liberty, justice, water for all, and housing, too. Mesa Verde, young love, and whatever.
@donaldkelly398320 күн бұрын
The baseball-Frankenstein monster sounds like The Brittle Innings by Michael Bishop.
@Scottmbradfield20 күн бұрын
Bishop should sue! (I don't know that story.) s
@bluewordsme220 күн бұрын
GREAT vide SB...i particularly love the opening where there is a brilliant and dramatic pause between 'when you hear this iconic theme song" followed by a Shakespearian pause while the audience on the edge of their seats wondering "which one will it be'. (at least im on the edge of my kitchen stool).....followed by an all too brief rendition, truncated and begging for more ;)_....YOU are iconic and i love these videos...btw, that damn Frankenstein playing little league sure as well sounds A LOT like the plot of The Bad News Bear movies of the 70s, only the huge, awkward player who know one liked just happened to be the lonely loner who could knock the ball out of the Astrodome hahahahah...and the Moby Dick as avenging Mother, a kind of reverse Medea, is a near rip off of Orca (with richard harris) hahahahah...and THAT is what i love about these stories...i had the same experience....and when i was lucky enough to sell a story to 'Hood and earn a little bit of $$, enough to never have to worry about how much i wanted to drink at the brown derby, or eat at In-N-Out burger or treat my ex-girfriend to trips to Ojai for wine and horserides, for a year, i had the damn same expeerience...every every meeting i had invariably was with young kids or kids my age (i was 29-33 when i lived in LA), all of whome felt out of Less Than Zero, talking about 'what do you think of this idea" or 'could you write a script based on this'....and as a kid who watched tons of movies, i couldnt think whether or not these ideas were coked-up brilliant (the frankenstein as little league glory player) or memories their addled minds didnt understand were actual movies they'd forgotten....anyway, i STILL BELIEVE that your novel would be A GREAT Paul Thomas Anderson film and i wish i was still in LA and had the connections i once did, cause i would put your novel in someone's hand....so brilliant a book, so clearly NEEDS to be a hollywood/california/valley story.....anyway, THANKS AGAIN for the brilliant video.....how would i fill the poitless 15 minutes while i prepare dinner for my wife, if not for watching these...and PEOPLE PLEASE PLEASE READ BRADFIELD'S NOVEL The history of luminous motion...it is beautiful, strange, sad, heartbreaking and shows me that in the bathtub there is a better much better writer than salinger who has been overlooked....seriously...ok, happy bathing, off to finish the salmon....hucks to lucky ...p.s. i act the same btw when i fall off the bed reading, attack mode.....safe bathing, bb
@larrycarr456221 күн бұрын
Your description of the Hollywood pitchmen… reminded me of John Fante’s utter disgust for the industry… and yet so many great films.
@larrycarr456221 күн бұрын
Hey Scott, apropos of nothing…I know you’re a fan of westerns -cinema. Just finished Elmore Leonard’s Valdez IS Coming, really good. Quite different from his crime fiction. Now I’ve got an itch to see Burt Landcaster in the movie …
@Scottmbradfield20 күн бұрын
I don't think I read that one but I did read and enjoy a couple of his westerns. s
@larrycarr456220 күн бұрын
It’s a good one, Valdez moral decisions inspired by St Francis of Assisi…
@stantonsullivan-readdelillo21 күн бұрын
Great great stories, Scott. Thanks. Too bad the Baker movie didn’t happen as you had worked on it.
@Scottmbradfield20 күн бұрын
Yeah it went through various directors. Eventually there was something with Ethan Hawke a few years ago that reminded me a bit of my script... s
@bluewordsme219 күн бұрын
@@Scottmbradfield I was just about to say, I saw Born to Be Blue (with hawke): did you write that script?...i love baker, and coltraine and davis and monk...btw, since you lke jazz, plz watch the documentary Straight Up, No chaser about Monk...h was divinity on earth....bb
@Scottmbradfield19 күн бұрын
@@bluewordsme2 There was definitely a line of influence from my script through Scorcese to Linklater to that film, but the WGA didn't think they could make a case. I haven't seen it, but the "concept" has similarities to my original script, which was pretty good. I love fifties jazz and most jazz especially West Coast Cool! s
@bluewordsme219 күн бұрын
@@Scottmbradfield i do too Scott (love west coast jazz)...everyweek, my ex and friends and I would go listen to extraordinary jazz in Burbank...i think Blue Room is where we went most often and the Potato....i have a great story (another time) where we chatted with Robert Blake...and saw a bunch of celebrities with pretty young things on their arms...but wow, the music....and that is a shame the WGA couldnt help...i used to also be a member of course, after selling a story...but, well hollywood is a weird out-of-patricia-highsmith place...a shame....anyway....look forward to the next video....have a great weekend scott.....bb
@stantonsullivan-readdelillo18 күн бұрын
@@Scottmbradfield Interesting to hear of the similarities, Scott haha. Been meaning to see that movie for quite awhile.
@user-ml8jq4dh5x21 күн бұрын
Great recollections, Scott. Best pitch scene ever was Alan Partridge desperately trying to save his career by pitching ideas to the BBC with titles such as 'monkey tennis' and 'arm wrestling with Chas and Dave'. Hope Lucky is okay. Have you installed any smart devices recently (smart lights/smart doorbells, etc.). These can drive dogs sick, distressed, aggressive or just plain crazy (which I'm not, it happened to my boss [well, technically his dog]).
@Scottmbradfield21 күн бұрын
I loved Alan Partridge!
@absurdistoxymoron21 күн бұрын
“Youth Hostelling with Chris Eubank” is another brilliant idea by Partridge.
@user-ml8jq4dh5x21 күн бұрын
@@absurdistoxymoron Thanks - I'd forgotten that one! Must go back and watch some Alan.
@absurdistoxymoron21 күн бұрын
@@user-ml8jq4dh5x I should go back and rewatch some Partridge too (and also watch some of the stuff I haven’t seen). For me, the first season of I’m Alan Partridge is peak comedy. So dark and pathetic (the episode with his super-fan/stalker is one of the funniest things I’ve seen).
@user-ml8jq4dh5x21 күн бұрын
@@absurdistoxymoron Yes, love that episode! I live in rural Norfolk, England where that was filmed so can totally relate to it! The writing is brilliant. If you haven't seen it already look out for 'The Thick of It' - also by Armando Iannucci. The guy has such a great ear for the darkly absurd nature of human existence. At the risk of a bad pitch, it's like Samuel Beckett meets Fawlty Towers.
@BrentDavis7522 күн бұрын
Discovered Sheckley through Dimension of Miracles. I absolutely love his stuff. He seems largely forgotten now, which is a terrible shame -- to me he's one of the best ever. Enjoyed your video. Thank you.
@Scottmbradfield21 күн бұрын
Thanks, Brent! Sheckley is a secret wonder! s
@yusefasabiyah49522 күн бұрын
I don't like Blood Meridian for itself. I hope Blood Meridian will be a provocation, though. I've said the above many times, but I hope this observation will be particularly poignant now, in 2024. Adorno said, " “nach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben, ist barbarisch.” He didn't say it to anyone who thinks Blood Meridian is a good book, terrifying, grizzly, as if it were possible to close your eyes, but keep on reading-- greedily, fulfilling some didactic purpose. We only read in school, to get credits, to graduate, to take a job and get invited to Jeffrey Epstein's island. Stephen Hawking went-- to the best of my knowledge, Cormac didn't. "F#@k reading:. I kinda see how folks would come to that conclusion, and that cynical attitude towards reading, and all Adorno has done is ratify the conclusion. Then the glib reading of Blood Meridian and pretending to be shocked, slammed, whammed, titillated, outraged-- pretending to have felt something. Meantime, Cormac up and died on me. I don't think he got a satisfactory send off, either.
@2msvalkyrie52923 күн бұрын
He had utter contempt for the pseudo - science of Psychoanalysis too ! And wasn't afraid to say so. Another reason to admire him...?
@Scottmbradfield23 күн бұрын
He definitely hated Freud, called him a "Viennese quack," as I recall... tho I still kind of like Freud myself, but maybe not in the bathtub... s
@user-zb7uh2ob1r23 күн бұрын
Jeez, you talk about Ulysses as if reading it is a punishment! Some of it is a slog and all of it takes serious dedication. It's not a book for everyone and if it's not for you, stop reading and pick up something else! Many people find a great deal of pleasure and value in this work. If you don't, that's okay. Don't read it. But don't make a KZread about how you've martyred yourself to read a terrible book!
@Scottmbradfield23 күн бұрын
I’ll only post videos if you think it’s ok. Or maybe you could just not watch them?
@yusefasabiyah49524 күн бұрын
I've never checked into Cormac's biography, and such crap, as his date of birth. He changed his name from Charlie to Cormac, and I was down with that, due to my neurotic admiration of Muhammad Ali. Cassius Clay. Malcolm X. Cassius had a period of time where he was Cassius X, before Elijah Mohammad stepped in to move Cassius beyond Malcolm X. This stuff reminds me of the Gaelic revival. I'm pretty happy about anything having to do with revival. I could even support an Ophrah revival, leading to POTUS, but what language do we speak?
@martinsFILMS1325 күн бұрын
Where do you start with this Maigret series because I read Misty Harbour and thought it was just ok.
@Scottmbradfield25 күн бұрын
I'd start with any novels published in the fifties or after... but the Maigret's are a sort of acquired taste, you. need to try a few of them before they kick in... kind of like Prozac. (Or so they tell me.) s
@GypsyRoSesx25 күн бұрын
Happy Birthday, Mr Bradfield, Scott 🎂 🎁 📚
@Scottmbradfield25 күн бұрын
Thanks, Gypsy Rose!
@excelsiorathletic26 күн бұрын
Have you read, 'gods go begging?' Alfredo Vea? I loved it.
@Scottmbradfield24 күн бұрын
Never heard of it... will do a "new books" segment soon and have yours on the stack! s
@excelsiorathletic23 күн бұрын
@@Scottmbradfield Thanks. You could read it before you start Maigret again!
@bluewordsme226 күн бұрын
hahaha. i hope Bush, Trump and all governmental agencies NEVER INVESTIGATE all our bathtubs for hidden chemical and biological weapons (does the ocassional joint or cigar count?)...what would Zoeey Glass (or for that matter Seymour), the first leader imho of the reading-in-the-bathtub brigade, think of Bush's nonsense....big congrats...and i owe it to the Old Masterbather for turning me on again to Simenon and especially Maigret (now down 7 Maigrets over the last month as i splash through other literature)...where the hell is the link to the times...i want to read your review...and agree, simenon IS the perfect brandy accompaniment, even better than brie, escargot and herrings ...i LOVE them (the book and the sardines)...btw, please dont put Lucky on the couch, unless she will talk to Phil Stutz., maybe read some simenon outloud to her, as you have a fabulous reading voice, cadence and tone...MAYBE that is what she needs....ordering the memoir....and plz ps the nytimes link....be safe and my best for lucky,...thanks SB...happy bathing, bb
@bluewordsme225 күн бұрын
P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT....bottoms up, we give you permission to spend the day bathing and reading....hug, bb
@GypsyRoSesx26 күн бұрын
Can you try a dog psychic or animal communicator? Congrats for completing Margaret again. I’d like to read some Maigret one day. Actually I should put it on my TBR for next year.
@Scottmbradfield26 күн бұрын
We’ve already got a psychic dog…oh no I meant psycho-dog. Yeah we have some experts coming thru who help a bit but it’s not easy!
@larrycarr456225 күн бұрын
Last yr the Maigret obsession took firm hold. Simenon’s Maigret is a masterful experience of simplicity, the writer’s/Maigret’s empathy for the foibles and intricacies of the human condition IMO is what sets it apart & drags you in… I’ve read about 10 so far… picking off the kindle $7.95 offerings and using my $3 rewards credits occasionally toward a higher priced one.
@GypsyRoSesx25 күн бұрын
@@larrycarr4562sounds wonderful
@larrycarr456225 күн бұрын
A new found delight!
@knapalo26 күн бұрын
Nice biting wit today. I finished the Collected Short Stories of John Cheever. Love his writing. Thanks
@joebeamish26 күн бұрын
Still my favorite
@Scottmbradfield26 күн бұрын
Me too, I love those stories…
@yusefasabiyah49526 күн бұрын
Those old tarmacs, which were roads, or via con dieu, and a group, except for Cormac, the long and winding road, which leads to Apache territory, without air conditioning. We went in. We went in. We went in. We gave a shit about the Judge, or the Kid. By saying he was a Cormac, McCarthy said he was Irish. He spoke Gaelic. James Joyce experimented with the Gaelic, in cyrillic. I think Cormac, through his mike, ro-phone-ro-prone, prone-bone, give an arapaho a bone, a bew = cibt, a home, an embued bastion, a ring. My best friend, geronimo, who leapt cliffs, with or without arapaho, apache, belong ago, to get picked up on the tarmacico, the slick back ago, the ring o' love, a long time ago..
@davec390127 күн бұрын
The Great Victorian collection was the last really great book I read.
@Scottmbradfield26 күн бұрын
One of my all-time faves.
@davec390126 күн бұрын
@@Scottmbradfield What would you recommend for my next Moore book that is maybe closest to that and still in print?
@Scottmbradfield26 күн бұрын
@@davec3901 Most of his books are cheaply available on Amazon or eBay, I love them all. COLD HEAVEN has a fantastic element; Judith Hearne and Eileen Hughes don't but are favorites of mine...
@yusefasabiyah49528 күн бұрын
Cormac touched the tarmac, and I was remembering to myself, why the potato famine had to happen, and if it had to happen through monoculture, musts, rusts, famines, pandemics-- or the passing of time. The English, the anglaisie, the silent tide, the replicans, the soul, the gust of ghost, the excremental of the exponential, as moving west, in dust, a shudder, among another, thought the diablo diatribe of an imbibe, as in amidst, mist, fragrance, black tagged now insolent, solar, plexis, nexus, would be served by infrastructure... ... A skeleton dancing along a fragrant road. Not of exhaust or flowers, or wishes, or whispers, or glad handing, or pan handling, or panning for gold, Pan, giving you his hand, in a pademonium, telling you to build a road. You go down, not knowing where. It is a good idea to build a road, to get the people moving. You want a smooth road, so you get the people moving smooth. Barefoot-- after all most subjects of the British crown are barefoot, along a beach, the British latecomers, terrorists, or pirates, and dear old Geronimo, needing no, sliding no, highway, but a pathway...
@TimMcLain-rf3vj29 күн бұрын
I remember great disappointment as a kid on reading the first Tarzan book. I believe the conclusion takes place in Wisconsin! Little resemblance to the movies I loved, much like my initial dip into Frankenstein. Hey, what's all this? Really enjoyed the first two in the Pellucidar series. And a knockoff of The Lost World called Land That Time Forgot, one of those pocket-size Ace paperbacks I wish I'd kept.
@Scottmbradfield29 күн бұрын
Yeah I heard that LAND TIME FORGOT is one of the best ones, as are the later Tarzan books... Take care, Tim! s
@freddydurbin6778Ай бұрын
Battle of the bathtub idea...Brian Evenson v. Thomas Ligotti...
@ScottmbradfieldАй бұрын
Yeah they belong in the same bathtub, but they'd lose each other to death. I love them both. s
@freddydurbin6778Ай бұрын
@@Scottmbradfield me too
@yusefasabiyah495Ай бұрын
The Kid-- and there is significant resemblance between the Kid, and a goat, a young Kid-- and the type we send off to schools, to get good grades, garner scholoarships, and go, not hog wild, but kid wild. There's another, above the butter, the shutter of the window, to lack of filter in the gutter, the mutter, the faceless Apache, the enemy the hostile rendition of the Judge, supposed to be stinkier, for a Billy Goat is stinkier than his shutter, morphozed to gutter, morphosezeded, to a Judge in long robes to a proclamation, to a tatter, to a smut show. I've always, myself, hated, but would rather, Dan Rather, die than be the Judge, or the courier of the Judge, the Bailiff, or a plaintiff, a mastiff, going bone-if. But the Kid is playing hookie, no nookie in sight.
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I just finished Revolutionary Road (in fact, while master bathing.) Wow! The writing is the pleasure that kept me going through the whole inevitable house fire. Readable but rich. Rich but readable. I’m glad you hipped me to Master Yates. The whole book is brilliant. Chef’s kiss at the John Givings insane asylum character!
Collier is so fun to read! Thanks for recommending.
Oh glad to make a convert. His stories have entertained me many times apiece! Nice hearing from you, Prag! s
Enjoyed your energy. Suttree is a "place you go" my all time favorite. Ulysses (Joyce)is SECOND
Thanks for dropping by the bathtub, Leefer. I was surprised by how good SUTTREE is, I only read it for the first time recently... s
Scott I am glad to see you are reading Chesterton he is brilliant! I implore you to read his short story The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown and his two novellas, The Man Who Was Thursday and The Napoleon of Notting Hill.
I don't know "Major Brown" but did like THURSDAY when I read it many years (decades!) back! Can't help seeing its influence on Lafferty... s
seeing that ms and i have just returned from dinner and packing for our anniversary trip, what a pleasure...i agree, Trudeau is amazing during the Regan years...at the time (i was in highschool and university), Trudeau, along with Larson (far side), Groening (life is hell, pre-simpson), Watterson and Schultz were my fave comic authors....but for political commentary, few match doonesbury in the 80s....and yea about collier again....id love to gift you complete Far Side or Calvin. & Hobbes to go with your schultz and doonesbury...and i've always wanted to tell me you always remind me of Calvin...and i thought of it more clearly when I read History of Luminous Motion, that Phillip is totally Calvin, which means yes, you are calvin, still ...even all grown up...is Lucky (or dodo) Hobbes>......anyway, when my better half and i come, eventually again, i will give you a copy......be well SB and thanks for the congratulations wish on FB...best we received.....stay safe...bb
Never got into Calvin but read and reread Far Side many times, probably as big an influence on my fiction. as PEANUTS! s
Happy anniversary!!!!!!!
Thanks Scott. Yes, far Side still in my living too. 3 huge editions. You should do another review of Schultz and Larson. 🍷💛
@@bluewordsme2 someday... I wrote a longish piece on Schulz possibly back before you arrived at the bathtub: newrepublic.com/article/162580/charlie-brown-america-peanuts-snoopy-politics-book-review
Great, and long, essay. Read it Trudeau airport. Thanks Scott
I've just finished 'White Noise.' I couldn't see the point at all. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind. I picked it up in a book swap in France.
Yeah I can see that. When it came out I thought it was hilarious, but then I assigned it for a class and had trouble finishing it!
Would you say the title for the Bee Gees album The Spicks and the Specks doesn't age well?
Speaking of horror and beyond human help… I’m reading Paris Trout by Pete Dexter… such a specimen of the inhuman, with the real story the lawyering & manipulation of truth & law in the portrayal of institutional injustice &the American way. A quite disturbing book.
Interesting, that book has a lot of fans. I never read it or Dexter yet... s
National Book Award 1988 for Paris Trout, I read God’s Pocket a Philadelphia story, fictional somewhat based on his experiences as columnist for a Philly paper. He also is the author of Deadwood.
Self deprecation if done with the right degree of humor is an art form of the highest order. Charles Portis comes to mind. Don’t know Collier… I guess I should.
You would almost certainly love FANCIES & GOODNIGHTS, seems like your sort of book...s
Seeing your copy of The Shrinking Man brought back some memories. I bought that same edition by mail order after seeing an ad for paperbacks in the mag Famous Monsters of Filmland, many years ago. Alas, my book is long gone, the result of an unsecured loan, no doubt to some neighborhood knucklehead. And yes, John Collier is a writer to cherish.
Yeah it's such a cool book, and so funny! Your old issues of Famous Monsters would probably fetch a few bucks today! I met Ackerman once, he gave me a free book of stamps... s
Just discovered your channel. Delighted by this Priest coverage (tho disheartened a bit by how few views its had). For me, he was (passed away recently) one of the most important contemporary literary writers in English. And The Separation the best novel I know from the first decade of this century. A sui generis 'alternate history" novel.
Yeah thanks, I love The Separation... always interesting writer... I did a more recent talk on The Glamour which is also v good... welcome to the bathtub! s
"Click Testing" can help you sell more books, and bath tubs.
The film adaptation of The Unsleeping Eye is indeed French, though it was mostly shot in Glasgow: "La Mort en direct" (Bertrand Tavernier, 1980), called "Death Watch" in English. & yes it stars Harvey Keitel, but it's also got Romy Schneider, Harry Dean Stanton, and Max von Sydow.
love Crazy Like a Fox....and sooo happy young (and elders) will now discover Crews....Crews memoir is called A CHILDHOOD...and is extraordinary.....SA Crosby is a fabulous young writer from N. Carolina who writes brilliant thrillers in a literary and gorgeous language fashion--perfect bathtub reading...love that your promoting young writers and indie presses....the Blackwood books sound awesome.....thanks scott.....
Yeah, CHILDHOOD was a hell of a book, but I've enjoyed everything Iever read of Crews. Putting KNOCKOUT ARTIST on my TBR shelf (if I can find it underneath all these damn books!)
@@Scottmbradfield hahahahahah...i know that feeling (all the damn books)...and Crews Childhood should be mandatory reading in america and for all writers....a better memoir? hard to thiink of one...hugs to you, mrs. and lucky and dodo....bb
Thanks for the mention, Scott! I'm not a professional swimmer but I am a sports coach. 'He can write' made my day. (Each time I left a comment with a link to 'The Poster' it got deleted!)
Glad we finally got to it! Excelsior! s
Thank you for mentioning the Penguin reprints of Harry Crews!! One of my favorite authors. The Gospel Singer has been out of print for so long. I am glad to now be able to read it again. David Ray
Any time, David. Crews always deserves attention! We talked about him in one or two previous episodes as well... s
Woody Allen's first writing gigs were to provide jokes for Perelman, among others, which went unaccredited of course; Allen was still in high school.
That sounds right... Allen's comic pieces for New Yorker always reminded me of Perelman... s
Really enjoyed your video! Big Ross Thomas fan and feel like he's sort of underappreciated these days
Thanks for dropping by the bathtub, Jake! Where Ross Thomas is always close to the suds! s
A word of warning. Stay away from post apocalyptic reading it causes extreme wrinkling in the 🛁…
☁️ Cloudland Revisited 🛁 sounds lovely…
It is a perfect title for that fun little book... s
Nabokov is arguably the best novelist in the English language after Joyce. His own life story is quite simply AMAZING! Do check out the KZread documentary film of him from 1965 where he is living in Montreux, Switzerland, where he explains his card index method of writing.
You've got to admit it is feeble to kiss the sky, but only to get a career going.
If we add to the battle, we add to the bard, the scribe, the sribble, the bibbler, the blessed, the scrivener, the Bible billionaire, bibbler, the bather, the craver. I'm not aware of how much Cormac sat in on the movies, which I love, and hope to see more of. Perhaps I could, in a cloud, if it comes to that, love him more, if I saw him credited with a screen play or two, as the bloods of meridian flowed into, and flowered him, on his recent death bed. How did Cormac spend the royalties? Thank the mercy of God on not himself becoming royalty. Perhaps he turned them over to Ophrah. He could have done worse. Ophrah is with us, and looking at her trim figure, going to be for a long, long, time. She is, as is Yoko Ono, or for that matter, Madonna, a billionaire. Swing city. Literature is swing city, as is a modal, melodic harmony, in two keys.
Just read a time travel story by farmer..was never familiar with him before
Farmer is pretty uneven but sometimes he's great fun. s
Don't miss The Doctor's Son, a short story about Pottsville PA, John O'Hara's own hometown ❤️ ❤️.
It sounds familiar, but I've read so many great O'Hara stories over the decades I can't quite tell them apart...s
Thanks fellow masterbaiter
You're welcome, Mystery Gator! s
I am entitled to speak for the wild, wild west. Cormac is here with me now, and likely to be highly critical of his poop being made into a film. I was down there in the west, and I hate scribes. Cormac wasn't a scribe, nor a journalist. He was a down home, meaning he had a gig on a little print setting, unthinkable mechanical lonesome -- searching for a home. We blessed, into the west, as a blossum, into a bosum, into a bossum, blowing a whistle into the jism of a brothel. Why? You go flock into box office of a cinema flick? Cormac went sprite into delight. You take your girl, not into the night, but into the free flight, the western, the sun, the sleep of a new moon arising. The outhouse, the coffin, the act of pooping, or giving birth, worth nothing, swept away by -- -- get this! A new nation, under god, conceived in liberty, justice, water for all, and housing, too. Mesa Verde, young love, and whatever.
The baseball-Frankenstein monster sounds like The Brittle Innings by Michael Bishop.
Bishop should sue! (I don't know that story.) s
GREAT vide SB...i particularly love the opening where there is a brilliant and dramatic pause between 'when you hear this iconic theme song" followed by a Shakespearian pause while the audience on the edge of their seats wondering "which one will it be'. (at least im on the edge of my kitchen stool).....followed by an all too brief rendition, truncated and begging for more ;)_....YOU are iconic and i love these videos...btw, that damn Frankenstein playing little league sure as well sounds A LOT like the plot of The Bad News Bear movies of the 70s, only the huge, awkward player who know one liked just happened to be the lonely loner who could knock the ball out of the Astrodome hahahahah...and the Moby Dick as avenging Mother, a kind of reverse Medea, is a near rip off of Orca (with richard harris) hahahahah...and THAT is what i love about these stories...i had the same experience....and when i was lucky enough to sell a story to 'Hood and earn a little bit of $$, enough to never have to worry about how much i wanted to drink at the brown derby, or eat at In-N-Out burger or treat my ex-girfriend to trips to Ojai for wine and horserides, for a year, i had the damn same expeerience...every every meeting i had invariably was with young kids or kids my age (i was 29-33 when i lived in LA), all of whome felt out of Less Than Zero, talking about 'what do you think of this idea" or 'could you write a script based on this'....and as a kid who watched tons of movies, i couldnt think whether or not these ideas were coked-up brilliant (the frankenstein as little league glory player) or memories their addled minds didnt understand were actual movies they'd forgotten....anyway, i STILL BELIEVE that your novel would be A GREAT Paul Thomas Anderson film and i wish i was still in LA and had the connections i once did, cause i would put your novel in someone's hand....so brilliant a book, so clearly NEEDS to be a hollywood/california/valley story.....anyway, THANKS AGAIN for the brilliant video.....how would i fill the poitless 15 minutes while i prepare dinner for my wife, if not for watching these...and PEOPLE PLEASE PLEASE READ BRADFIELD'S NOVEL The history of luminous motion...it is beautiful, strange, sad, heartbreaking and shows me that in the bathtub there is a better much better writer than salinger who has been overlooked....seriously...ok, happy bathing, off to finish the salmon....hucks to lucky ...p.s. i act the same btw when i fall off the bed reading, attack mode.....safe bathing, bb
Your description of the Hollywood pitchmen… reminded me of John Fante’s utter disgust for the industry… and yet so many great films.
Hey Scott, apropos of nothing…I know you’re a fan of westerns -cinema. Just finished Elmore Leonard’s Valdez IS Coming, really good. Quite different from his crime fiction. Now I’ve got an itch to see Burt Landcaster in the movie …
I don't think I read that one but I did read and enjoy a couple of his westerns. s
It’s a good one, Valdez moral decisions inspired by St Francis of Assisi…
Great great stories, Scott. Thanks. Too bad the Baker movie didn’t happen as you had worked on it.
Yeah it went through various directors. Eventually there was something with Ethan Hawke a few years ago that reminded me a bit of my script... s
@@Scottmbradfield I was just about to say, I saw Born to Be Blue (with hawke): did you write that script?...i love baker, and coltraine and davis and monk...btw, since you lke jazz, plz watch the documentary Straight Up, No chaser about Monk...h was divinity on earth....bb
@@bluewordsme2 There was definitely a line of influence from my script through Scorcese to Linklater to that film, but the WGA didn't think they could make a case. I haven't seen it, but the "concept" has similarities to my original script, which was pretty good. I love fifties jazz and most jazz especially West Coast Cool! s
@@Scottmbradfield i do too Scott (love west coast jazz)...everyweek, my ex and friends and I would go listen to extraordinary jazz in Burbank...i think Blue Room is where we went most often and the Potato....i have a great story (another time) where we chatted with Robert Blake...and saw a bunch of celebrities with pretty young things on their arms...but wow, the music....and that is a shame the WGA couldnt help...i used to also be a member of course, after selling a story...but, well hollywood is a weird out-of-patricia-highsmith place...a shame....anyway....look forward to the next video....have a great weekend scott.....bb
@@Scottmbradfield Interesting to hear of the similarities, Scott haha. Been meaning to see that movie for quite awhile.
Great recollections, Scott. Best pitch scene ever was Alan Partridge desperately trying to save his career by pitching ideas to the BBC with titles such as 'monkey tennis' and 'arm wrestling with Chas and Dave'. Hope Lucky is okay. Have you installed any smart devices recently (smart lights/smart doorbells, etc.). These can drive dogs sick, distressed, aggressive or just plain crazy (which I'm not, it happened to my boss [well, technically his dog]).
I loved Alan Partridge!
“Youth Hostelling with Chris Eubank” is another brilliant idea by Partridge.
@@absurdistoxymoron Thanks - I'd forgotten that one! Must go back and watch some Alan.
@@user-ml8jq4dh5x I should go back and rewatch some Partridge too (and also watch some of the stuff I haven’t seen). For me, the first season of I’m Alan Partridge is peak comedy. So dark and pathetic (the episode with his super-fan/stalker is one of the funniest things I’ve seen).
@@absurdistoxymoron Yes, love that episode! I live in rural Norfolk, England where that was filmed so can totally relate to it! The writing is brilliant. If you haven't seen it already look out for 'The Thick of It' - also by Armando Iannucci. The guy has such a great ear for the darkly absurd nature of human existence. At the risk of a bad pitch, it's like Samuel Beckett meets Fawlty Towers.
Discovered Sheckley through Dimension of Miracles. I absolutely love his stuff. He seems largely forgotten now, which is a terrible shame -- to me he's one of the best ever. Enjoyed your video. Thank you.
Thanks, Brent! Sheckley is a secret wonder! s
I don't like Blood Meridian for itself. I hope Blood Meridian will be a provocation, though. I've said the above many times, but I hope this observation will be particularly poignant now, in 2024. Adorno said, " “nach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben, ist barbarisch.” He didn't say it to anyone who thinks Blood Meridian is a good book, terrifying, grizzly, as if it were possible to close your eyes, but keep on reading-- greedily, fulfilling some didactic purpose. We only read in school, to get credits, to graduate, to take a job and get invited to Jeffrey Epstein's island. Stephen Hawking went-- to the best of my knowledge, Cormac didn't. "F#@k reading:. I kinda see how folks would come to that conclusion, and that cynical attitude towards reading, and all Adorno has done is ratify the conclusion. Then the glib reading of Blood Meridian and pretending to be shocked, slammed, whammed, titillated, outraged-- pretending to have felt something. Meantime, Cormac up and died on me. I don't think he got a satisfactory send off, either.
He had utter contempt for the pseudo - science of Psychoanalysis too ! And wasn't afraid to say so. Another reason to admire him...?
He definitely hated Freud, called him a "Viennese quack," as I recall... tho I still kind of like Freud myself, but maybe not in the bathtub... s
Jeez, you talk about Ulysses as if reading it is a punishment! Some of it is a slog and all of it takes serious dedication. It's not a book for everyone and if it's not for you, stop reading and pick up something else! Many people find a great deal of pleasure and value in this work. If you don't, that's okay. Don't read it. But don't make a KZread about how you've martyred yourself to read a terrible book!
I’ll only post videos if you think it’s ok. Or maybe you could just not watch them?
I've never checked into Cormac's biography, and such crap, as his date of birth. He changed his name from Charlie to Cormac, and I was down with that, due to my neurotic admiration of Muhammad Ali. Cassius Clay. Malcolm X. Cassius had a period of time where he was Cassius X, before Elijah Mohammad stepped in to move Cassius beyond Malcolm X. This stuff reminds me of the Gaelic revival. I'm pretty happy about anything having to do with revival. I could even support an Ophrah revival, leading to POTUS, but what language do we speak?
Where do you start with this Maigret series because I read Misty Harbour and thought it was just ok.
I'd start with any novels published in the fifties or after... but the Maigret's are a sort of acquired taste, you. need to try a few of them before they kick in... kind of like Prozac. (Or so they tell me.) s
Happy Birthday, Mr Bradfield, Scott 🎂 🎁 📚
Thanks, Gypsy Rose!
Have you read, 'gods go begging?' Alfredo Vea? I loved it.
Never heard of it... will do a "new books" segment soon and have yours on the stack! s
@@Scottmbradfield Thanks. You could read it before you start Maigret again!
hahaha. i hope Bush, Trump and all governmental agencies NEVER INVESTIGATE all our bathtubs for hidden chemical and biological weapons (does the ocassional joint or cigar count?)...what would Zoeey Glass (or for that matter Seymour), the first leader imho of the reading-in-the-bathtub brigade, think of Bush's nonsense....big congrats...and i owe it to the Old Masterbather for turning me on again to Simenon and especially Maigret (now down 7 Maigrets over the last month as i splash through other literature)...where the hell is the link to the times...i want to read your review...and agree, simenon IS the perfect brandy accompaniment, even better than brie, escargot and herrings ...i LOVE them (the book and the sardines)...btw, please dont put Lucky on the couch, unless she will talk to Phil Stutz., maybe read some simenon outloud to her, as you have a fabulous reading voice, cadence and tone...MAYBE that is what she needs....ordering the memoir....and plz ps the nytimes link....be safe and my best for lucky,...thanks SB...happy bathing, bb
P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT....bottoms up, we give you permission to spend the day bathing and reading....hug, bb
Can you try a dog psychic or animal communicator? Congrats for completing Margaret again. I’d like to read some Maigret one day. Actually I should put it on my TBR for next year.
We’ve already got a psychic dog…oh no I meant psycho-dog. Yeah we have some experts coming thru who help a bit but it’s not easy!
Last yr the Maigret obsession took firm hold. Simenon’s Maigret is a masterful experience of simplicity, the writer’s/Maigret’s empathy for the foibles and intricacies of the human condition IMO is what sets it apart & drags you in… I’ve read about 10 so far… picking off the kindle $7.95 offerings and using my $3 rewards credits occasionally toward a higher priced one.
@@larrycarr4562sounds wonderful
A new found delight!
Nice biting wit today. I finished the Collected Short Stories of John Cheever. Love his writing. Thanks
Still my favorite
Me too, I love those stories…
Those old tarmacs, which were roads, or via con dieu, and a group, except for Cormac, the long and winding road, which leads to Apache territory, without air conditioning. We went in. We went in. We went in. We gave a shit about the Judge, or the Kid. By saying he was a Cormac, McCarthy said he was Irish. He spoke Gaelic. James Joyce experimented with the Gaelic, in cyrillic. I think Cormac, through his mike, ro-phone-ro-prone, prone-bone, give an arapaho a bone, a bew = cibt, a home, an embued bastion, a ring. My best friend, geronimo, who leapt cliffs, with or without arapaho, apache, belong ago, to get picked up on the tarmacico, the slick back ago, the ring o' love, a long time ago..
The Great Victorian collection was the last really great book I read.
One of my all-time faves.
@@Scottmbradfield What would you recommend for my next Moore book that is maybe closest to that and still in print?
@@davec3901 Most of his books are cheaply available on Amazon or eBay, I love them all. COLD HEAVEN has a fantastic element; Judith Hearne and Eileen Hughes don't but are favorites of mine...
Cormac touched the tarmac, and I was remembering to myself, why the potato famine had to happen, and if it had to happen through monoculture, musts, rusts, famines, pandemics-- or the passing of time. The English, the anglaisie, the silent tide, the replicans, the soul, the gust of ghost, the excremental of the exponential, as moving west, in dust, a shudder, among another, thought the diablo diatribe of an imbibe, as in amidst, mist, fragrance, black tagged now insolent, solar, plexis, nexus, would be served by infrastructure... ... A skeleton dancing along a fragrant road. Not of exhaust or flowers, or wishes, or whispers, or glad handing, or pan handling, or panning for gold, Pan, giving you his hand, in a pademonium, telling you to build a road. You go down, not knowing where. It is a good idea to build a road, to get the people moving. You want a smooth road, so you get the people moving smooth. Barefoot-- after all most subjects of the British crown are barefoot, along a beach, the British latecomers, terrorists, or pirates, and dear old Geronimo, needing no, sliding no, highway, but a pathway...
I remember great disappointment as a kid on reading the first Tarzan book. I believe the conclusion takes place in Wisconsin! Little resemblance to the movies I loved, much like my initial dip into Frankenstein. Hey, what's all this? Really enjoyed the first two in the Pellucidar series. And a knockoff of The Lost World called Land That Time Forgot, one of those pocket-size Ace paperbacks I wish I'd kept.
Yeah I heard that LAND TIME FORGOT is one of the best ones, as are the later Tarzan books... Take care, Tim! s
Battle of the bathtub idea...Brian Evenson v. Thomas Ligotti...
Yeah they belong in the same bathtub, but they'd lose each other to death. I love them both. s
@@Scottmbradfield me too
The Kid-- and there is significant resemblance between the Kid, and a goat, a young Kid-- and the type we send off to schools, to get good grades, garner scholoarships, and go, not hog wild, but kid wild. There's another, above the butter, the shutter of the window, to lack of filter in the gutter, the mutter, the faceless Apache, the enemy the hostile rendition of the Judge, supposed to be stinkier, for a Billy Goat is stinkier than his shutter, morphozed to gutter, morphosezeded, to a Judge in long robes to a proclamation, to a tatter, to a smut show. I've always, myself, hated, but would rather, Dan Rather, die than be the Judge, or the courier of the Judge, the Bailiff, or a plaintiff, a mastiff, going bone-if. But the Kid is playing hookie, no nookie in sight.