From top to bottom:
- Wolves Eat Dogs by Martin Cruz Smith : yes, I do realise this looks like airport fiction, but I’ve enjoyed the character of Arkady Renko ever since watching the film version and then reading the book Gorky Park. The subsequent novels with the character have been good enough to maintain my interest in the series, so I figured why not.
- The Plague by Albert Camus : a novel about the destruction of social order and the reduction of otherwise upstanding individuals to base human beings struck me as somewhat Cormac McCarthy in theme, but not in style. Colour me intrigued.
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov : I’ve been meaning to get back to this ever since… well, then.
- And The Ass Saw The Angel by Nick Cave : two words : “Gothic tragedy”
- The Collected Stories by Lorrie Moore : with Like Life and Birds Of America, Lorrie Moore constructed charming stories of scarily-familiar characters that were intriguing in the most mundane of situations. I’m hoping for more of the same delights in this collection that includes her harder to obtain earlier short story releases.
- The Informers by Bret Easton Ellis : I’m a sucker for recommendations from cute guys at bookstores and, yes, I do have his number.
- I Like You by Amy Sedaris : every gay man loves her as much as everyone else loves her gay brother David. The book is about hospitality and entertaining. The woman is ridiculously funny. How could I not want to read this book?
- The Messenger by Markus Zusak : I bought this on the strength of his earlier book, The Book Thief. I’m expecting good things.
- Imperium by Robert Harris : apparently I remind the owner of this book of the character, Cicero. I’m interested to see what exactly that means.
- Tree Of Smoke by Denis Johnson : I bought this on the basis of his earlier book, Jesus, Son. Read the explanation and you’ll understand why.
- The Joke’s Over by Ralph Steadman : A Hunter S Thompson biography by a man who writes well.
So… what’s in your ‘to read’ pile?
Nice pile! And, by the way, nice website. Last time I looked at your blog it was dark and confusing (yes, I realise this was probably a thousand years ago…I’m a bad friend.)
I’m a sucker for anything in orange paperback and am dying to read the Nick Cave novel. I’m currently half way through “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt, coming-of-age story of boy caught up with ancient Greek orgy enthusiasts, a few chapters off “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and a few pages in to “Lolita”. I never seem to be reading only one thing at once…
Thank you, my dear – you’re not looking so bad yourself
I love that you’re reading “The Secret History”. I really do. We love the Donna. Fingers crossed “The Little Friend” comes out in the next release of Popular Penguins. It’s a damn good read that more people need to come upon.
Oh lord,
Of course there is Moore.
But also there is Ellis – of whom I am a fan across all his works. Apparently the film version of The Informers is shit (despite Ellis scripting it).
But it is actually a pretty darn good literary collection none-the-less. Never will you think ‘vampire’ and ‘octopus anus’ in the same way again ( I won’t elaborate).
PS: I find Penguin’s ‘popular’ orange foray reductionist (not to undermine the original works, although maybe the expected comments thereupon), cheap, stupid, and visually unappealing.
They also seem unlikely to fulfil any need on a more critical level, in terms of comprehensive introductions etc (I may be incorrect on this point… but, am I?).
Fuck, these books might well have good intro texts, etc. But even so they are all, unilaterally, ugly.
I don’t know where to start with your latest comment, but here goes…
I don’t see how the Popular Penguins are any more reductionist than any other books in a bookstore
The price makes them a lot more accessible than most other books on offer (barring the ever-unpopular titles that inhabit bargain bins), which I don’t see as a bad thing if that means it functions as an entree to authors and work that many might not otherwise attempt.
I don’t understand your comment about fulfilling needs on a critical level and comprehensive introductions, but then I don’t understand how a published reproduction is of any significant difference to any other published reproduction not bound in an orange cover.
As for the series being unilaterally ugly, I don’t really want to argue about that from a position of ambivalence.
The only part of my comment I actually agree with is that they are unnattractive. The rest, unfounded and / or untrue.
Hmm, musta been drunk driving on the internet again…
I had a (to be fair rather literary) friend scoff at me when I enthused about Popular Penguins.
“Ha!” he said (smug tone) You know you can buy most of those with notes for only a few dollars more…”
Yes, smug friend, maybe you can. But maybe I just want to read my book, not study it. I like the orange, they look nice all lined up on my bookshelf.
And Jake dearest I’m back in Melbourne and looking forward to you visiting!
Who even needs notes when they read a book? Is the writing so underwhelming we need yet more pages to help us find something on which to enjoy the book? Surely a good read is a good read, and vice versa
I think you’ll have picked up who my rather literary friend of the scoffing variety is – in all fairness, I have a few but Sweet Etc resides in a special place in the pantheon of friendship