Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Patti Smith Coffeebreaks

Excerpts from coffeebreak, taken off pattismith.net. It's an affliction of being a fan. Sometimes I just want to find out what my hero/ine is reading, what she's listening. Then I'll go check out the books, the music, the films. Want to know what makes her tick. What inspires her.

I read a lot. A bit of Blake. Imitation of Christ. Thomas de
Quincy reminiscing on the Lake Regions. Mercury by Anna
Kavan, Tales from Moominvalley. Now I am finishing a new
book by Henning Mankell, the Swedish master of crime. I have
sadly gone through all his detective novels featuring the
slightly alcoholic Kurt Wallender staking his man in the bleak
outposts of Ystad. I highly recommend the entire series as
well as the site dedicated to Inspector Wallender.

The book I am reading is far flung from the moody forests and
the police station adjacent to the old water tower. But Mankell
is a good story teller and his present book, from the mouth of
a dying street kid in South Africa, stands on its own.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

that is such a cool thing about living in our current day, isn't it? being able to see what our hero/ines are up to.

i love knowing what they're doing with their lives and what reading or watching.

do you think you'll try any of the books she's reading?

Mailyn said...

Forgive my ignorance as I know very little of English music but, is this a singer with a song Rock and Roll Nigger? The only reason I would know that it's because I remember Marilyn Manson covered this and the name of the person in the original was Patti Smith. Then again I could be way off. LOL.

Sadly most of my idols are either dead or have websites in languages I have yet to learn [which are a lot] so I have no clue as to what they do in their day-to-day. It's cool that you get to find out more about her and that she posts that kind of info on her site.

Meaning to ask you if you also listen to Asian music since I know you like their movies. Most of what I listen to is from over there. I posted a video of my favorite Korean singer Park Hyo Shin. Just wanted to let you know in case you are interested or in case you know him.

darkorpheus said...

Jean Pierre: I've always wanted to try Imitation of Christ and Anna Kavan. And I've heard a lot of good stuff about Henning Mankell. Yeah. I believe I actually will pick up something from the Wallender series.

This is like my friend who picked up Bulgakov's Master and Margarita because of The Rolling Stones's "Sympathy for the Devil" was inspired by the book.

Mailyn: Oh yes, Patti Smith did "Rock and Roll Nigger" - I didn't know Marilyn Manson covered it. He's cool. :)

Sorry, not very into Asian music. A lot of the music I love are from bands that were established before my adulthood: Patti Smith, Sleater-Kinney, Pixies, REM, Sonic Youth etc.

Okay, so maybe I like some current living artistes: Tori Amos, Rachael Yamagata, Tracy Chapman, The Kills, Sarah McLachlan, Cassandra Wilson - okay, too many to count.