Archive for Author 'Bill Wolf', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

The Rooster Bar

by John Grisham

A tale of law students growing disillusioned—about their chosen profession, their mediocre school, crushing student loan debt. The students hatch a plan, and as so many plans hatched over a drink or three, things go a bit off the rails.

Portrait in Oil, The Autobiography of Nubar Gulbenkian

by Nubar S. Gulbenkian

Eccentric and rich beyond measure, this Armenian business magnate and international playboy cut a large figure in life and even in death. An insightful and entertaining portrait of one of the key figures involved in the international oil trade beginning before the First World War.

Scale Auto Magazine

Executive Editor: Mark Savage

What had been a hobby for pre-teen male gearheads back into the late 1950s and 1960s has grown up. Scale Auto Magazineprovides today’s (mostly adult) hobbyists with information and inspiration. Editor Mark Savage and his team do this well, publishing a handsome and useful magazine every other month.

Conversations with Buñuel

by Max Aub

Bruñuel was known to take liberties in the telling of his life and deeds but the author kept him on the straight and narrow. His avant-garde films are difficult to parse and take effort. So does this book.

Sticky Fingers

by Joe Hagan

At the best of times, Rolling Stone magazine was, and once more is, so much more than merely a chronicle of the music industry or popular culture. It showcased heavy-hitting political reporting and writers who would become literary luminaries. This masterful biography offers a look behind the curtain.

Maximum Volume, The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin

by Kenneth Womack

Still can’t enough of Beatles material? This book shows how important Martin’s contributions and collaborations were to the Beatles’ recorded music, and it shows his profound concern for both the music and for the band.

Collector’s Choice Music Catalogue, August 2017

by Joe Van Horn

Speedreaders is often unique in the material we review—and proud of it. Here is a music catalogue that may periodically come to your house. But we sometimes do more than a mere review; this essay is both informational and illuminating.

Ed “Big Daddy” Roth: His Life, Times, Cars, and Art

by Pat Ganahl

There was a time when Roth might have been refused entry to Amelia Island—no beatniks allowed. Just kidding, but the fact that the 2018 AIC is featuring Roth’s cars demonstrates a change in thinking. This book tells the story of Roth, his creations and his cultural significance.

Batman Black and White

by Gianni, Goodwin, Gaiman, McKeever, Miller et al

Not for fanfolk only! Every book lover with an especial interest in pen-and-ink, black-and-white, the art of drawing, should consider tracking this one down.

Do Not Sell at Any Price

by Amanda Petrusich

The title comes from a sticker that was affixed by their original or early subsequent owner to some 78 rpm records eventually acquired by hardcore collectors: Do not sell at any price. This becomes a ready symbol for the fervor and obsession of the collectors found in the book.

Vinyl Freak, Love Letters to a Dying Medium

by John Corbett

Although most music consumers today stream their favorites, there has been an uptick in the interest in vinyl. There too is a tremendous backlog of out-of-print vinyl, and not everything, believe it or not, is available on CD or streaming. This book takes a long look at this phenomenon.

The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer, American Animation Pioneer

by Ray Pointer

Betty Boop is over 80 years old but to her fans she’s as young and sexy as ever. See how she, and Popeye and KoKo and lots of other characters were created and how the pioneering animation studios worked.

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