Sunday, August 7
More book reviews, some of them for books I haven't read:
Colors Insulting to Nature: A Novel, Cintra Wilson
Like Burroughs' Sellevision, this is a novel from someone who's better known for other kinds of writing. And like Sellevision, and Wilson's criticism/commentary, this is culturally savvy and savagely funny. It's a sort of coming-of-age story for a debased and celebrity-obsessed era, and I'm a big fan. Recommended for people who watch a lot of television and would like to read more.
Superstud: Or, How I Became a 24-Year-Old Virgin, Paul Feig
I prefer Feig's Kick Me, about an earlier stage in his childhood, and I vastly prefer Freaks and Geeks (as I've noted earlier, the collected scripts are available, as are DVD sets in exhaustive and super-exhaustive versions). That said, Feig's a funny guy, and this is a funny book. Recommended for fans of witty memoirists like David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs (and, of course, recommended for fans of F&G, especially because many of the things that happened to Feig ended up as plot elements on the show).
The Road to Esmeralda: A Novel, Joy Nicholson
It's a dark, funny novel about Mexico and yanquis and tourista imperialism and Third World corruption and a failed writer and his girlfriend and a German eco-resort owner and his crooked handyman. Recommended, especially for folks who like The Tortilla Curtain, The Beach, Graham Greene, that kind of stuff.
Bangkok Tattoo: A Novel, John Burdett
A sequel, more or less, to Burdett's Bangkok 8, this is another mystery/thriller/crime novel set in exotic Thailand. Mamasans, Buddhists, corrupt local officials, international criminals--it's got it all, plus tattoos (here's a rather tattoo-centric review from Needled, a new and appealing tattoo blog). Good choice for crime fans, seedy-underbelly fans, etc. What does it say about me that my main fiction reading interests are literary and crime/noir?
A Year in the Merde, Stephen Clarke
A Brit gets a job in France, overseeing the opening of a bunch of English-themed tea rooms. Hilarity ensues. If you only read one book by an Anglo who spends time in France, this one's meaner, and funnier, and more lad mag and less New Yorker, than Adam Gopnik's Paris to the Moon. (Upon further reflection, if you only read one book by an Anglo who spends time in France, your choices are either Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London or Hemingway's A Movable Feast.)
The Only Girl in the Car: A Memoir, Kathy Dobie
Sexually-precocious small-town girl learns a lesson. This book is good--excellent, even--but for some reason it wasn't my thing. Fans of Foxfire and The Virgin Suicides and whatnot would probably enjoy it, as would fans of memoirs like Girl, Interrupted, Bad Girl and Smashed, the last two of which I believe I've written about already.
What're You Lookin' At?! Vol. I of the collected Angry Youth Comix, Johnny Ryan
Speaking of books that aren't my thing. This is like Peter Bagge's Hate, only more stoopid and gross-out-y, and, in the language of obscenity law, without redeeming cultural or artistic value. (Also, I wonder whether my library's copy would withstand a challenge, but that's neither here nor there.)
SHAM: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless, Steve Salerno
This book's okay, but it left me with a very empty feeling. Maybe it's because, unlike virtually every nonfiction book which details a big problem, it doesn't offer much in the way of solutions. Maybe it's because Salerno blames the suckers and dupes, rather than the pimps, charlatans and liars, more than I would strictly prefer. Maybe it's because he keeps quoting lightweights like Naderite turned corporate apologist John Stossel and pseudo-intellectual anti-feminist Christina Hoff Summers. I was expecting Eric Schlosser or Michael Moore, and instead I got something more like Laura Ingraham or Mona Charen.
The Great Shark Hunt: Gonzo Papers, Volume 1: Strange Tales From a Strange Time, Hunter S. Thompson
I like Thompson, and I'm glad this book is back in print (and I think it's right up there with Campaign Trail '72 among his best work), but I just didn't get around to rereading it. Shrug.
On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense, David Brooks
I liked Bobos in Paradise, even though Brooks is kind of a dope. I had this thing checked out for months and never gotten around to reading it, though I like the premise, and I managed to find time to read some fairly scathing reviews. Finally I just gave up. Brooks won't miss me.
American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
This is the third time I've read this book. The first time, it was in 1991, and I was in high school, and it was pretty good. The second time, it was in, what, the late '90s? I was in college, and they were working on the movie, and this time, the book was only decent. This time, it wasn't very good at all, and I didn't finish it. Which is a shame, because yuppies-behaving-badly has long been one of my favorite themes.
Colors Insulting to Nature: A Novel, Cintra Wilson
Like Burroughs' Sellevision, this is a novel from someone who's better known for other kinds of writing. And like Sellevision, and Wilson's criticism/commentary, this is culturally savvy and savagely funny. It's a sort of coming-of-age story for a debased and celebrity-obsessed era, and I'm a big fan. Recommended for people who watch a lot of television and would like to read more.
Superstud: Or, How I Became a 24-Year-Old Virgin, Paul Feig
I prefer Feig's Kick Me, about an earlier stage in his childhood, and I vastly prefer Freaks and Geeks (as I've noted earlier, the collected scripts are available, as are DVD sets in exhaustive and super-exhaustive versions). That said, Feig's a funny guy, and this is a funny book. Recommended for fans of witty memoirists like David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs (and, of course, recommended for fans of F&G, especially because many of the things that happened to Feig ended up as plot elements on the show).
The Road to Esmeralda: A Novel, Joy Nicholson
It's a dark, funny novel about Mexico and yanquis and tourista imperialism and Third World corruption and a failed writer and his girlfriend and a German eco-resort owner and his crooked handyman. Recommended, especially for folks who like The Tortilla Curtain, The Beach, Graham Greene, that kind of stuff.
Bangkok Tattoo: A Novel, John Burdett
A sequel, more or less, to Burdett's Bangkok 8, this is another mystery/thriller/crime novel set in exotic Thailand. Mamasans, Buddhists, corrupt local officials, international criminals--it's got it all, plus tattoos (here's a rather tattoo-centric review from Needled, a new and appealing tattoo blog). Good choice for crime fans, seedy-underbelly fans, etc. What does it say about me that my main fiction reading interests are literary and crime/noir?
A Year in the Merde, Stephen Clarke
A Brit gets a job in France, overseeing the opening of a bunch of English-themed tea rooms. Hilarity ensues. If you only read one book by an Anglo who spends time in France, this one's meaner, and funnier, and more lad mag and less New Yorker, than Adam Gopnik's Paris to the Moon. (Upon further reflection, if you only read one book by an Anglo who spends time in France, your choices are either Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London or Hemingway's A Movable Feast.)
The Only Girl in the Car: A Memoir, Kathy Dobie
Sexually-precocious small-town girl learns a lesson. This book is good--excellent, even--but for some reason it wasn't my thing. Fans of Foxfire and The Virgin Suicides and whatnot would probably enjoy it, as would fans of memoirs like Girl, Interrupted, Bad Girl and Smashed, the last two of which I believe I've written about already.
What're You Lookin' At?! Vol. I of the collected Angry Youth Comix, Johnny Ryan
Speaking of books that aren't my thing. This is like Peter Bagge's Hate, only more stoopid and gross-out-y, and, in the language of obscenity law, without redeeming cultural or artistic value. (Also, I wonder whether my library's copy would withstand a challenge, but that's neither here nor there.)
SHAM: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless, Steve Salerno
This book's okay, but it left me with a very empty feeling. Maybe it's because, unlike virtually every nonfiction book which details a big problem, it doesn't offer much in the way of solutions. Maybe it's because Salerno blames the suckers and dupes, rather than the pimps, charlatans and liars, more than I would strictly prefer. Maybe it's because he keeps quoting lightweights like Naderite turned corporate apologist John Stossel and pseudo-intellectual anti-feminist Christina Hoff Summers. I was expecting Eric Schlosser or Michael Moore, and instead I got something more like Laura Ingraham or Mona Charen.
The Great Shark Hunt: Gonzo Papers, Volume 1: Strange Tales From a Strange Time, Hunter S. Thompson
I like Thompson, and I'm glad this book is back in print (and I think it's right up there with Campaign Trail '72 among his best work), but I just didn't get around to rereading it. Shrug.
On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense, David Brooks
I liked Bobos in Paradise, even though Brooks is kind of a dope. I had this thing checked out for months and never gotten around to reading it, though I like the premise, and I managed to find time to read some fairly scathing reviews. Finally I just gave up. Brooks won't miss me.
American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
This is the third time I've read this book. The first time, it was in 1991, and I was in high school, and it was pretty good. The second time, it was in, what, the late '90s? I was in college, and they were working on the movie, and this time, the book was only decent. This time, it wasn't very good at all, and I didn't finish it. Which is a shame, because yuppies-behaving-badly has long been one of my favorite themes.
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I just couldn't get into Colors Insulting to Nature, and I say that as someone who laughed uncontrollably at A Massive Swelling and most every one of her Salon columns. I think I picked it up in the long shadow of Pierre's Vernon God Little, which is a fantastic....uh? "feel-bad comedy"?
Johnny Ryan is stoopid, which is perhaps why later material sits patiently on the "arts" shelf of the lieberry's gently-read bookstore. As to challenges, I agree. Blab I could defend, but I might decline to defend Johnny Ryan, should "they" come for him.
kisskiss,
-mehetabel
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Johnny Ryan is stoopid, which is perhaps why later material sits patiently on the "arts" shelf of the lieberry's gently-read bookstore. As to challenges, I agree. Blab I could defend, but I might decline to defend Johnny Ryan, should "they" come for him.
kisskiss,
-mehetabel
# posted by 
: 11:46 AM
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