Write (not write) One of the ironies of startin…
Write (not write)
One of the ironies of starting this blog is that I originally intended it to be a place to mention books in passing, but I rarely do because I always want to say something scintillatingly intelligent about them, which requires time and effort, so I wind up not mentioning them at all. It’s a particularly bizarre form of self-censorship because it feels like if I mention them once I can’t go back to them at a later date. This is, clearly, ridiculous. So, recently lurking by my bed have been, in no particular order:
On The Way To Work - Damien Hirst and Gordon Burn (Deeply perceptive, expletive filled rants about life, art and everything inbetween. Whether or not you like his work isn’t particularly important. A worthy successor to Sylvester’s Interviews With Francis Bacon).
Frightening Curves - Antony Johnson and Aman Chaudhary (Hard-boiled-London-magick-supernatural-occult-apocalyptic-graphic-novel-cum-prose-novel-thing. Can’t argue with that. Written by me old mucker Antony Johnson, as I’ve said before).
Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser (Unflinching but levelheaded overview of the fast food industry. A good way of kickstarting a diet. A worthwhile companion to No Logo too).
Lovely Green Eyes - Arnost Lustig (Fictional account of Hanka, a 15 year oldfgirl who escapes Auschwitz by serving in an SS brothel on the Eastern front. Harrowing but unhistronic, with beautiful, spare prose and a quietly transcendental ending. Had been perturbed before reading it about the very idea of Holocaust fiction - we’re still having problems dealing with the real-life accounts let alone adding fictional ones, but I think this book is an example of fiction bringing reality alive. That was clumsy, but you know what I mean).
Book Business - Jason Epstein (Short and sweet memoir of working in book publishing from the man who founded Anchor Books and is credited with kickstarting the paperback revolution in the States. Some great anecdotes about authors and how rapidly publishing has changed in the last few decades - as well as an epilogue that embraces digital publishing as the future of the book, as opposed to the death of it. Optimistic and intelligent, but little recognition of marketing being the death of books…)
Touching The Void - Joe Simpson (Classic account of mountineer Simpson being left for dead on a particularly treacherous range and managing to crawl back to base camp despite having a broken leg. A truly excruciating read, but for all the right reasons).
Hell’s Angel - Sonny Barger (Execrable ghost-written pap autobiography of the biker who was the focal point of HST’s Hell’s Angels. Still vaguely interesting for the Thompson connection).
Current reading - Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden.
That was a real braindump. So what have you been reading? Click the comments link below to post your thoughts.
Other Splinters posts of interest:
