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Heart - Pet Shop boys

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles “Wouldn’t it have been wonderful, thought Woolly, if everybody’s life was like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle. Then no one person’s life would ever be an inconvenience to anyone else’s. It would just fit snugly in its very own, specially designed spot, and in so doing, would enable the whole intricate picture to become complete.” “If you take a trait that by all appearances is a merit—a trait that is praised by pastors and poets, a trait that we have come to admire in our friends and hope to foster in our children—and you give it to some poor soul in abundance, it will almost certainly prove an obstacle to their happiness. Just as someone can be too smart for their own good, there are those who are too patient for their own good, or too hardworking.” Do you like homespun wisdom? Above are just two examples from the novel. Two amongst hundreds. If you like that sort of thing you will like this. This is the first time I have read anything by Towles. This one is a road trip novel. Emmett Watson has served time at a juvenile detention centre, he returns to the family farm and his brother Billy. Their father has died and the farm has been foreclosed. The warden has driven Emmett, but hidden in the trunk are two other boys escaping. Duchess and Woolly. Emmett and Billy plan to travel to California, where their mother went when she left them; they have a car to travel in. They team up with Duchess and Woolly. They want to go to New York for various reasons. This is the essence of it. There are various slips and trips, some other significant characters, a bit of riding the rails and much more. There are all sorts of themes and quite a few classical references. Homer’s Odyssey is very much one of them. There is even a character called Ulysses riding the rails who plays a significant role. There are other literary parallels, The Count of Monte Cristo being another. Themes like atonement, justice and loss also run through the novel. The book is much beloved by many. There is a sort of bittersweetness about it and not all the actors make it to the end. Plus all the wise words. I hated it. Recycled truisms, playing on the emotions, cute characters. It doesn’t have the realism of Kerouac although it is set around the same time. Most people seemed to have adored this: not me. 3 out of 10 Starting Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh

Fearless Heart - Steve Earle

full to the brim with

with his presence. 'Well praise be!' Parson Cross enthused, 'God has provided, the poor of our parish will be fed tonight. It reminds me of the Bible story of the five loaves and two fishes that fed the multitudes. All it takes is the faith of a mustard seed to move mountains. And here we have a veritable mountain of beef burgers, my prayers have been answered. Thank you, thank you for your stupendously generous donation,' he said wringing the drivers hand. 'May God bless you abundantly and peace be with you brother.' The driver looked very sheepish and decided he'd send the bill instead to Mr Revolting who had ordered the consignment. 'Ahh humm, you're very welcome Padre ... your Reverence ... Your Holiness ...' 'HAHAHA,' Victor gave a great braying laugh, causing Fred to take a nervous step backwards, 'just call me ...

Heart of Glass ~ Blondie

carrying an enormous basket

in came Officer Zilch,

At that very moment...

eggs and a goose

The Gang That Sang "Heart of my Heart" - The Four Aces

Every man for himself by Beryl Bainbridge “A man bears the weight of his own body without knowing it, but he soon feels the weight of any other object. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that a man cannot forget- but not himself.” This is another variation of the Titanic story, this time by Beryl Bainbridge. It was shortlisted for the Booker in 1996. Spoiler Alert: it sinks! This is a fictionalised account, although a number of real-life characters do flit in and out: Thomas Andrews, Ismay, Astor, Captain Smith, Lady Duff Gordon and others. There is a first-person narrator, who is a young relative of J P Morgan, or at least an adoptee: it isn’t that clear. He is rather handily called Morgan. The fictional characters are mainly in first class and are a fairly typical assortment. These include an opera singer with a dubious past, a rather obvious caricature of a Jewish tailor, assorted young adults interacting in fairly typical ways. Morgan is in his early 20s. In the folio edition, which I read, the illustrations were by Bainbridge herself (the best part of the book it must be said). Bainbridge spends only the last quarter of the book on the sinking. The first three quarters deals with the comings and goings of the first class passengers, the circle around Morgan. As you would expect, there’s nothing new here and the cavortings of the youngish and rich do lose their attraction after a while. It seemed to me to be a wasted opportunity to ignore most of the passengers. Bainbridge has a good imagination and tells a fair story, but this just didn’t really resonate with me. 6 out of 10 Starting Burntcoat by Sarah Hall

Mario Puzo "The Godfather" M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita" James Joyce "Ulysses" Hunter S. Thompson "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" F. Scott Fitzgerald "The Great Gatsby" Friedrich Nietzsche "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" Anthony Burgess "A Clockwork Orange" Erich Maria Remarque "A Night in Lisbon", "Life to Live and Time to Die" Milan Kundera "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" Bernard Werber "The Empire of the Angels"

Heart and Soul - T'Pau

so I rang Out of the Frying Pan, a greasy spoon delivery service in Clapham. I ordered 200 beef patties on bread, to be sent immediately to Pompous Our Lord of Holy Fathers, Bugle Rd, London. Cash on delivery..all 700 quid..from my esteemed colleague and friend, Victor Cross, Parson extraordinaire. Three hours 1 minute later, a furniture van turned up at the parson' s church. It was now 8pm and no one seemed to be around. Fred Fallacious, 43, a driver from Surbiton, knocked, no reply. Eventually he got hold of Victor's wife, Petunia, an ex administrator for a team of bucket manufacturers in Shoreditch,who met the parson while dreaming about marigolds in a Starbucks in Salop. ''Ere brav, oive a tan a bladdy beef burgers ere an I wanssum offa me ands,ya get me? Get daan ere naa..' Trusting in the beneficence of the Lord, Parson Victor felt it would be gratis, a gift from God. ' Awfully kind of you, I'll be there in 5..toodle oo', and at that, the driver just tipped the burgers onto the porch,stood laughing, and awaited our dear man of the Lord to grace us..

tax inspectors, five golden

four dancing girls, three ...

are those morons doing out there?' On inspection, I discovered the huge pile of cat litter, mixed with a generous helping of dirt, deposited slap bang in front of our door, making it impossible to open. I bellowed at the idiots but they just waved and drove off. Fuming, I rang the truck company and told them if they didn't move the heap forthwith, they'd have a lawsuit on their hands. But the receptionist said that those were the instructions given, she had them in front of her. 'Who in hell gave those orders, I'll have their...' But she'd hung up. That left only one thing to do,

Anyone Who Had a Heart ~ Dionne Warwick

Hey would you want to check this out? its free for kindle unlimited https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Garden-Gardening-Renters-Dwellers-ebook/dp/B0CXY5JXS9

There are 3 million on the harmonic spectrum. Joel has devised the grail.

in the company of

sadden her profusely...now chop chop Vicar.. ' Three hours 43 minutes, and 12 seconds later, a huge tipper truck, yellow in colour, arrived I heard a crash and many thuds, as half a ton of cat litter was opposed onto the cat cafe courtyard. ' What in God's holy name.

Do you mean actually analysing note by note or books which describe the effect of music? I don't play any instruments but the novel which got me making a huge listen-to list is Trio by Sue Gee. It's a terrific book too.

Thanks a lot for your suggestions!