It’s only natural to stop by Half Price Books when in Dallas.
Ben O'Connell
@benjaminoc.bsky.social
Dad, husband, promiscuous reader, former music geek, wannabe movie nerd, Montanan, NE DC Canine Knucklehead Ward co-founder, C-SPAN director of editorial operations
Our long weekend in New Orleans was too short, so I took a brief mental trip back with Yuri Herrera’s SEASON OF THE SWAMP. Even if it didn’t quite live up to Herrera’s TEN PLANETS, it was an enjoyable diversion.
Stopped by Faulkner House and Crescent City Books in New Orleans and picked up a couple gems this afternoon.
Damn, girl, are you a mirror, because ,rorrim a uoy era ,lrig,nmaD esuaceb
A light rain and mountain views welcome me home to Montana
I beg you all to please understand that “underrated” is not a synonym for “little known.”
In the early 1990s I had to bust my ass to get copies of J.G. Farrell's novels in the U.S., doing it purely on word on mouth. They were so worth it. So glad to see NYRB putting them out.
Ben O'Connell@benjaminoc.bsky.social · 2w agoAll for different reasons: - J.G. Farrell's TROUBLES & THE SIEGE OF KRISHNAPUR - MOBY-DICK - PIRANESI - Phil Tinline's GHOSTS OF IRON MOUNTAIN - Deborah Cohen's LAST CALL AT THE HOTEL IMPERIAL - Bohumil Hrabal's TOO LOUD A SOLITUDE - K.C. Constantine's THE MAN WHO LIKED SLOW TOMATOES
All for different reasons: - J.G. Farrell's TROUBLES & THE SIEGE OF KRISHNAPUR - MOBY-DICK - PIRANESI - Phil Tinline's GHOSTS OF IRON MOUNTAIN - Deborah Cohen's LAST CALL AT THE HOTEL IMPERIAL - Bohumil Hrabal's TOO LOUD A SOLITUDE - K.C. Constantine's THE MAN WHO LIKED SLOW TOMATOES
Louie Stowell@louiestowell.bsky.social · 2w agoWhat are the books you yammer on about to anyone who'll listen? In the kidlit sphere it's Boss of the Underworld, The Boy to Beat the Gods, City of Stolen Magic and Donut Squad for me!
I’m rereading (heavy skimming) Caroline Fraser’s excellent PRAIRIE FIRES: THE AMERICAN DREAMS OF LAURA INGALLS WILDER for a book club and just got to the Peshtigo wildfire. Extraordinary it happened at the same time as The Great Chicago Fire and had 4x-8x the casualties, yet it’s nearly forgotten.
Husband just came in to tell me that since the assassination of Abraham Lincoln every American president has been alive at the same time as Herbert Hoover.
Someone just sent me this photo from Chicago, unbelieveable
MTV's original 120 Minutes program showcased music videos from at least two Minneapolis(ish) bands: Hüsker Dü and the Replacements. You can explore the show's playlists by search or by episode at this fan-run archive website: altmusictv.com cc: @mplsmusichistory.bsky.social
The 120 Minutes Archive | Classic Alternative Music Videos
Classic alternative music videos and archived playlists from MTV’s 120 Minutes in the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s, at the independent, critically acclaimed, definitive library of music video nostalgia.
altmusictv.com
Phil Nobile Jr.@philnobilejr.bsky.social · 3w ago120 MINUTES was an absolute oasis in pre-internet pop culture. So many bands that you could ONLY find there (TV-wise) became ubiquitous online later (and relatively recently). A pioneer. consequence.net/2026/07/dave...
The first grindcore band at the Tiny Desk HAD to be the founding fathers. Circle up, y'all, I brought freaking NAPALM DEATH to the Desk @npr.org www.youtube.com/watch?v=e81L...
Napalm Death: Tiny Desk Concert
YouTube video by NPR Music
youtube.com
Napalm Death are probably the only band to have sent a note to their Bandcamp followers that read “Hope you are all having a lovely day.” And I’m certain they meant it.
the Mountain Goats@themountaingoats.bsky.social · 3w agoyou guys this is the greatest thing ever to have happened
I took the day off and went used book shopping. It was a good day.
World Cup has got some great historical rematches on deck. Franco-Spanish War, the Falklands War, maybe the Napoleonic Wars. History repeats itself as farce etc etc
One of the band members, Bill Danoff, later opened a DC eatery, the Starland Cafe. I went a few times during its decade of existence and remember little except the origin of its name. www.washingtonpost.com/archive/life...
NEIGHBORHOOD DELIGHT
washingtonpost.com
The 70s Guy@stevenw888.bsky.social · 4w agoAfternoon Delight" was a 1976 hit song by the Starland Vocal Band that famously celebrates a casual, midday sexual encounter. Reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 10th July 1976, the song became an iconic cultural touchstone of the U.S. Bicentennial summer. It was their only hit. #Starland
Finally picked up my copy of Paul Tremblay’s latest, DEAD BUT DREAMING OF ELECTRIC SHEEP. Tremblay’s horror novels are among the most narratively sophisticated I’ve read in recent years. I always know I’m in good hands with him.
COWBOYS & ALIENS is both not good and better than its reputation suggests. It also left me with one lingering question: what in the hell was Sam Rockwell thinking?
I find the story of Hegelochus unreasonably funny. Imagine dying and the only trace of you millennia later is the time you accidentally said you saw a weasel in a tragic play in front of a packed audience, because people mocked you about it for centuries. (Thread for ease)
Hegelochus: The Ancient Greek Actor We Only Know About Because He Really, Really Fluffed Up His Line
Around 400 BCE, Hegelochus really messed up his line. We only know about the actor because he was mocked about it for centuries.
iflscience.com
I wanna tell you all a story 'bout A Harper Valley widowed wife Who had a teenage daughter Who attended Harper Valley Junior High Well, her daughter came home one afternoon And didn't even stop to play And she said …
Vic Thorstenson@vthorstenson.bsky.social · 4w agoMan, nobody could build a shithouse like the WPA.
In the late ‘90s, a friend learned Branford Marsalis was going to play a late-night set at a posh DC bar. We showed up, saw jazz enthusiast Bernie Shaw at the bar, and knew we were in the right place. Then one of our friends passed out drunk and we had to take her home before Marsalis arrived.
Howard Beale Street Blues@winteron.bsky.social · 4w agoslightly embarrassed to say that I am now, for the first time, digging into Branford Marsalis’s discography. I very much enjoyed a concert of his I saw years ago, but man this guy has made a lot of great albums. his sound on this track! an extension of Ben Webster but not a rote imitation
Angels trapped in statues, time-traveling Nazis, and messy adult relationships—Francis Spufford’s historical fantasy NONESUCH is magnificent.
The back cover of Oakley Hall’s 1986 novel Apaches offers a bracing reminder of the vagaries of literary fame. I’m among the relatively small number of people alive in 2026 who has read MacDonald Harris, but even I had to look up David Madden. Yet in 1986 neither even needed an identifying tag.
Having previously read only JOSEPH & HIS BROTHERS, Thomas Mann’s THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN is coming as quite a shock.
