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 The
Red Notebook: True Stories by Paul
Auster. This is a book that answers the question "why
do you write" beautifully. This was my first foray into
Auster and it won't be my last. When you are held spellbound
by the simple act of losing a dime in one place and finding
another (the same one?) somewhere else; you know you are in
the presence of a terrific writer.
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 Flaubert's
Parrot by Julian
Barnes. This was my first foray into Barnes; a
biography of Flaubert disguised as a novel about a man coming
to terms with his wife's suicide. I didn't need the accompanying
story as Barnes' coverage of Flaubert's life was interesting
enough to keep my complete interest. I found myself having
to mentally re-adjust as some part of the fiction presented
itself while still following the life of Flaubert. Luckily,
I have Flaubert
in Egypt which is mentioned in the book. I'm still on
the look-out for a book of his letters.
 The
Voice Imitator by Thomas
Bernhard. Like Auster's book (above), Bernhard's ability
to hold you're attention with his stories (these being fiction)
stands him amongst the likes of Bruno
Schulz, Donald
Barthelme and William
Gass. The stories are short (a page), sometimes disturbing,
sometimes sad. Really worth looking at.
 Eunoia
by Christain Bök. Bök co-won the 2002 Griffin Poetry
Prize for Eunoia (shared with Alice Notley for her Disobedience).
Anyone one who is a fan of the OuLiPo
(Ouvroir
de Littérature Potentielle) writers' (particularly
one of my favourite, Georges
Perec) constrained experiments in writing will love this
book. Eunoia is what I would call an extreme form of lipogram
(writing without or with only using [a] particular
letter[s]) in which each chapter is based on a particular
vowel and tells a story using only words possessing that vowel.
Wonderful.
 Blood
Orchid: An Unnatural History of America by Charles
Bowden. I've often agreed with the term 'incandescent'
when used to describe Bowden's writing. As with Blues for
Cannibals, this book is an eye-opening experience of everything
under the Sororan desert sky from narcotrafficantes
to the treatment of the Native Americans. He rants like no
other, with wit and brutal honesty. Be warned though, his
soapbox has a turret and lots of ammunition.
 Blues
for Cannibals: The Notes from Underground by Charles
Bowden. Bowden digs deeper into the American soul and
comes up with more disturbing tales of the denizens of the
desert. A prisoner obsessed with painting presidents and "sex
offenders whose desires are not as alien as we would wish."
 Desierto:
Memories of the Future by Charles
Bowden. "Desierto
brings his method to a new pitch of mournful lyricism and
visionary power." In this earlier book, Bowden looks
at la problema of Mexico; the drug kingpins and various
other predators—human and not. A brilliant and disturbing
experience as all his books are.
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 Observatory
Mansions by Edward
Carey. Francis Orme lives in the Observatory Mansions
with a menagerie of maladjusted and eccentrically fascinating
characters. When he isn't working as a mannequin (in a wax
museum and on the street—a man's gotta bring home the
bacon somehow) he is putting together a museum of precious
objects in the basement. I wonder why he keeps the museum
a secret from everyone?
 True
History of the Kelly Gang by Peter
Carey. This was an enjoyable read and rightly won Carey
the Booker
Prize. It tells the story of legendary Ausie highwayman
Ned
Kelly. Told in the form of a letter to his daughter; he
explains how he went from being a poor boy to the legendary
criminal he became famous for. Although factually not always
true (Ned Kelly didn't have a daughter) Carey uses his devices
carefully and creates a beautiful story from historical scraps.
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 The
Writing Life by Annie
Dillard. Dillard's essays have the comfy feel of E.B.
White's essays. The book contains a series of essays (Montaigne-esque
in a modern style) on her experiences of writing (too much
coffee and playing baseball with somebody's kids outside her
studio window) and living.All-in-all she still gets the job
done.
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 I'm
Gone by Jean
Echenoz. Winner of the 1999 Prix Goncourt. Quite an entertaining
novel, I often wish that I could read the original French
version of novels to see how the translator (Mark Polizzotti
in this case) did. The story finds the narrator Ferrer leaving
his girlfriend and finding himself in a "'man against
nature' tale, heist caper, art world satire, and love story"
all rolled into one.
 You
Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave
Eggers. Currently available through independent book dealers.
This, his first work of fiction, is the story of two people's
quest around the world to unload unwanted money on strangers—in
one week. Published by Eggers' own McSweeney's
Books it contains all the thoughtful design and poor copy-editing
you've come to expect from independent releases. OK, Mr.
Eggers, we believe you, you haven't sold out.
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 Chump
Change by Dan Fante. Fante's (the son of novelist
John Fante of Los Angeles) first book published in the States
is the first part of a trilogy about on-again-off-again drunk
Bruno Dante. It seems like a lightly veiled autobiography
as this book begins with Bruno's father in a coma and not
expected to live. Fighting (well, sort of) his alcoholism
he tries to deal with his screenwriting father's state. The
story is balances brutality and tenderness with skill and
daring.
 Mooch
by Dan Fante. The second part of the trilogy picks up ten
months after the death of Bruno's father. He's "cleaned
himself up, straightened out, and is back on the wagon."
With a new job selling computer supplies comes along it seems
he's back in the game until (wait for it) he meets a Mexican
femme fatale and his world once again begins to crumble. This
is actually really good.
 Spitting
Off Tall Buildings by Dan Fante. In the final book of
Fante's trilogy Bruno Dante has hitch-hiked from L.A. to N.Y.
and dives right into a series of dead-end temping jobs. Scattered
between drinking binges, affairs ,and attempting to write
he works as a staple puller, a window washer, and a cabbie
amongst other things. As with his other books—amazing
read (I hope the other books he has written will be translated
and released here). Not to everyones taste to be sure.
 The
Reivers by William Faulkner. Considered one of Faulkner's
"comic masterpieces," The Reivers follows the story
of three unlikely car thieves from rural Mississippi on a
roadtrip. The cast include's an eleven year old boy, one of
his father's retainers and thier black coachman as they steal
the boy's grandfather's new car and drive to Miss Reba's bordello
in Memphis. Hilarious.
 Generica
by Will
Ferguson. Finally a book deals with what would happen
if a self-help book came out and it actually worked as advertised?
According to Ferguson, obviously the apocalypse. This is a
great book on the publishing industry as well as a caveat
emptor for self-help book customers. The book is also
sold with the title Happiness.
 The
Michigan Assassin: The Saga of Stanley Ketchel by Nat
Fleischer. A book on boxing great
Staney
Ketchel (1886-1910)(considered by boxing
collectors as one of 15 rare boxing books to possess).
I don't expect anyone to have read it or be able to find it.
Either way, I have a copy and have read it a couple of times
this year and found it enlightening. Fleischer was long-time
editor of The Ring Magazine and knew the Middleweight champ.
His book mixes hearsay with fact and then adds a dash of myth
creating a soupy Frankenstein's monster. It's fun and about
all there is available on Ketchel aside from a mountain of
newspaper clippings (which I also have).
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 Bias:
A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News by
Bernard Goldberg. For those out there who think the news gives
you all you'll need to keep up with current events will be
surprised at how selective the media are in what they report.
I was amazed not only at what I was missing but also at what
I wasn't being told at all. Goldberg walks the media minefield
blowing
the whistle on the industry the whole way.
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 84
Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. It only took one letter
to a bookstore in England to start up a twenty year correspondance
between book lovers. It's Ms.
Hanff's humour and Mr. Doel's sweetness that makes this
book such a wonderful read. I'll rarely discuss movies in
relation with books but in this case I will make an exception
as the film adaption
is brilliant.
 Works
on Paper: The Craft of Biography and Autobiography
by Michael Holroyd. Reknowned historian Holroyd
turns his attention to the art of biographies and autobiographies.
Beginning with a case against biographic writing he moves
on to those who have chosen the life and the lives they've
told. Absolutely fascinating read.
 The
Elementary Particles by Michel
Houellebecq. This is Houellebecq's second novel—it
caused a scandal in France and ignited a fervent debate over
the virtues and vices of liberalism. He attacks what he believes
to be the decadent culture of the 1960s, which (in his mind)
spawned the selfish, narcissistic individualism of contemporary
Western civilization. The title refers to the book's relentless
existential theme: that society is a fraud, and permissive
contemporary culture has enslaved human beings in a world
of loneliness and misery. Houellebecq's message: sex equals
consumerism "and ever darker fates." I don't know
if I agree, but it was a great read. Check out the News section
for a couple of articles on him.
 Whatever
by Michel
Houellebecq. If I were to say, "Houellebecq captures
precisely the cynical disillusionment of disaffected youth."
Would you want to read it? I wouldn't. It seems that reviewers
are desperate to use terms like that to explain books that
deal with alienated people. I wonder if Albert
Camus received the same comments after L'Etranger
was published in 1946. I enjoyed Whatever although it
lacked the handling of The
Elementary Particles. If you missed reading this read
his second book first and then decide if you want to back-track.
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 Seek:
Reports from the Edges of America & Beyond
by Denis Johnson. With the essays in this book, Johnson takes
you from war-torn Liberia to gold prospecting in Alaska to
a Christian bike rally. I like this book as much as I liked
his novel Jesus'
Son. Johnson's voice is one that is familiar, luring you
into the situations he covers—whether fiction or non.
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 The
Harmon Chronicles by Harmon Leon. Leon worked on Might
Magazine with Dave Eggers and now gives us an insider's
look at the wierdness of America. He does this not by in-depth
reporting but by using 'infiltration
journalism'. The results are usually hilarious and, not
a little, disturbing.
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 Notable
American Women by Ben Marcus. Hmmm. I don't know what
to say about Ben
Marcus or his book. I enjoyed it, it was bizarre and mentally
painful enough to get through that I suspect it was good for
me (in the way exercise is—or Buckley's
Mixture). In a nutshell, a Fellini'esque view of a Matriarchal
world and a slow-witted boy named Ben Marcus imprisoned for
his 'seed'. Natch.
 The
Ring of Brightest Angels Around Heaven by Rick Moody.
There is no denying Moody is a great writer. I just have difficulty
finding his stories consistantly interesting.Parts of his
Demonology:
Stories was quite amazing and then bam! I hit the Moody
wall. This book, though, I read and found it not too bad,
the stories were interesting and well told. I think I'll try
Demonology again.
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 Footsucker
by Geoff
Nicholson. After Still Life with Volkswagons I thought
I would read another Nicholson book. It was interesting in
a Sacher-Masoch
meets Palahniuk
sort of way. But sadly it lacked the subtlety of Sacher-Masoch
and the intelligence of Palahniuk. A mediocre read about a
foot-fetishist and his obsession with a woman with beautiful
feet. A better book in the foot vein would be John
Fergus Ryan's Watching
or even Dr.
Richard von Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia
Sexualis.
 Still
Life with Volkswagons by Geoff
Nicholson. The only way I can explain this is to use the
dreaded "rollicking tale" analogy. The story deals
with a variety of Volkswagon collectors, everyone from the
young and rich to new agers, eco terrorists and neo-nazi's.
But who is blowing up Volkswagons all over England and who
will solve the mystery? Rollicking (there it is) good read.
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 Zombie
by Joyce Carol Oates. This woman never ceases to amaze me
with how well she writes. I remember seeing her being trashed
on a "reader's forum" because she wrote too much
and now they were just sick of her. She ain't V.C. Andrews
who continued to release new books well into the third year
of her death. Oates can throw words with the best of them
and with this disturbing little book she takes you into the
foggy mind of a serial sex killer. Look into it.
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 Lullaby
by Chuck
Palahniuk. I've mentioned before that I believe this is
Chuck's return to brilliance. This story follows reporter,
Carl Streator, writing a series of articles about SID while
grieving for his own dead wife and child when he makes a disturbing
discovery. Great story, I was reminded of his Invisible
Monsters and Survivor.
 The
Satyricon by Petronius was originally a long episodic
spoof of the Odyssey: its hero, Encolpius, offends
the God Priapus
by ransacking his temple and is stricken with impotence. He
and his friends and bedmates wander through Italy recounting
their adventures. The only fairly intact sequence tells of
a dinner by a nouveau-riche merchant named Trimalchio
who holds an elegant banquet but whose base-born origins are
always showing. The rest of the book is in fragments but still
a fun read. Seneca's The
Apocolocyntosis is a humorous look at what happens after
Claudius died. I gotta say, I really liked this story.
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 Waiting
Period by Hubert Selby Jr. Like Joyce Carol Oates' Zombie,
Selby
tells his story from the point of view of a suicidal man who
becomes a serial killer. The difference with this tale is
it begins before he kills and follows the narrator's twisted
logic as it justifies his actions. Written with Selby's customary
daring you are carried along on a "joyfull killing spree"
with as much ability to stop as the main character.
 The
Autograph Man by Zadie
Smith. This was a fun book. I am still a bit confused
as to what the interior dust jacket writing was about but
since it didn't seem to make it to the paperback copies I've
seen, I'll ignore it. I found the characters interesting but
not fully developed, the story stalled in places, and the
kabalistic references difficult to wade through...but all
in all I still love her work.
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 Young
Adam by Alexander
Trocchi. This was the first novel for this Scottish
Beat writer, originally published in 1954. A young woman's
corpse is found floating in the canal by a drifter working
on a barge between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Slowly his connection
with the drowned woman unfolds along with his mental stability
and you are taken along for the ride.
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