Autobiography by Morrissey
It is a key belief of my that it is important to, occasionally, read bad books. Otherwise, how is oneContinue Reading
Category: Book Review
After The Fall by Arthur Miller
I have had one of the most boring days of my life. I dedicated OVER SEVEN HOURS to getting holdContinue Reading
Yoga For People Who Can’t Be Bothered To Do It by Geoff Dyer
I have an odd relationship with the works of Geoff Dyer. There are books of his that I rate asContinue Reading
The Naive and the Sentimental Novelist by Orhan Pamuk
This little book, collected from a series of lectures Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk gave in 2009, is an interesting textContinue Reading
Homage To Catalonia by George Orwell
I had been intending to read George Orwell’s Homage To Catalonia ever since I encountered Down And Out In Paris And London,Continue Reading
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood is a fucking emotional rollercoaster of a book. It tells the story, in great detail,Continue Reading
The Penguin Book of New American Voices edited by Jay McInerney
I found this excellent 90s-scene short story collection in a charity shop, picking it up mainly because amongst its sixteenContinue Reading
The Walking Dead: Compendium Two by Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard
Reading two comic books within two months makes me look like far less of the sleek, hip-hop player most peopleContinue Reading
The Passover Plot by Hugh J. Schonfield
I had intended to spend the day writing the “dopest”* literary rap of all time, but I have instead beenContinue Reading
The Sea Close By by Albert Camus
I bought this little promotional book for £2 on impulse a few weeks ago. I read it today. The SeaContinue Reading
Three Tales by Gustave Flaubert
I found myself a copy of Flaubert’s 1877 short story collection Three Tales in order to read ‘Herodias’, his piece aboutContinue Reading
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor
I was recommended to read If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things in order to marvel at McGregor’s impressive ability to leapContinue Reading
The Atrocity Exhibition by JG Ballard
This is the first book I have ever read by JG Ballard. I haven’t read any of his famous ones,Continue Reading
Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
Wow. I just finished reading this long collection of themed poems, and found it pretty impressive. Birthday Letters, Ted Hughes’Continue Reading
Umbrella by Will Self
Will Self’s 2012 novel Umbrella, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize that went to Bring Up The Bodies, is a sexy, war-y, JoyceanContinue Reading
77 Dream Songs by John Berryman
I’m reading less because I’m busy, yeah, I have a life and whatever. Today I read 77 Dream Songs by JohnContinue Reading
The Skating Rink by Roberto Bolaño
The Skating Rink, or La Pista Del Hielo, was Roberto Bolaño’s first novel. It was published in Spanish in 1993 andContinue Reading
Signifying Rappers by David Foster Wallace & Mark Costello
When I learnt about the recent republication of David Foster Wallace’s 1990 academic text about hip-hop only days after fallingContinue Reading
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
I saw the film version of Watchmen a couple of years ago and hated it. I saw it when my alcoholContinue Reading
Hear Us O Lord from heaven thy dwelling place by Malcolm Lowry
Malcolm Lowry died in 1957, having published only two books (both novels) in his lifetime: the youthful Ultramarine (1934, myContinue Reading
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Wow. Fuck a diddle wank, David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest (1996) is a full blown literary compendium of joy. Deeply philosophical,Continue Reading
The Honorary Consul by Graham Greene
Right. My blog is back in business, back to books. (As I’m sure you can see, my hair is far,Continue Reading
Birthday Blog Post: You Ain’t Achieved Nothin’ Yet, OR Old Men, On The Road and Becoming an Old Man On The Road
Twenty five is not, in itself, a significant birthday. However, it does mean that one has distinctly reached an ageContinue Reading
An Outcast of the Islands by Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was notorious for being unable to write women. Actually, no, less that, he was more notorious for veryContinue Reading
Scott Manley Hadley, Queen of Carthage (It Reminds Me That It’s Not So Bad, It’s Not So Ba-ah-ad)*
Despite dandling no one on my lap, my time in Tunis (so far) has been a highspincycle of emotion. ThereContinue Reading
We’ll Always Have Casablanca: Getting Out of Morocco and Racing Through Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos
Casablanca felt very different to the other Moroccan cities I visited. Very European, actually, in terms not just of architecture,Continue Reading
Of Mutability, Sad and Sand: Me Reading Jo Shapcott in the Sahara Desert as I Really Start To Feel The Loss Of The Anti-Depressants
I’m pretty certain, as I write this on the minibus back to Marrakech, that I have sand inside my anus.Continue Reading
A Rubbish Couple of Days
Over the last few days I have made a series of unforgivable travel booboos. Yesterday I nearly gave myself heatstroke,Continue Reading
Ul-Essaouira-sses: Reading James Joyce’s Ulysses on Morocco’s Atlantic Coast
Desperately needing some cooler weather and a low pressure environment in which to cold turkey from the anti-depressants I’d beenContinue Reading
On Not Being Bowles-ed Over by Paul Bowles’ Let It Come Down
Spent two nights in Marrakech, ran into most of the people I’d met before, had a pleasant time, but I’mContinue Reading
Exploring Fes, Grappling With John Ashbery’s Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
I’ve tried recreation, Reading until late at night, train rides And romance. from ‘Worsening Situation’ by John Ashbery As IContinue Reading
Straddling The Strait of Gibraltar: Tarifa & Tangier
In the southernmost tip of Western Europe is a small beach resort town called Tarifa. Full of hostels, kite-boarding schools,Continue Reading
Hanging out alone in Seville, reading Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives
Well, I’ve been away four days and have already completed my first read of the trip. Roberto Bolaño’s HUGE TheContinue Reading
Poems by B. S. Johnson
When asked his occupation, or for any kind of self-identification, B. S. Johnson would reply that he was a “poet”.Continue Reading
Travelling People by B. S. Johnson
Today I have returned to the British Library in order to read more out of print books by Bryan StanleyContinue Reading
The Striped World by Emma Jones
Emma Jones’ debut collection, The Striped World, is an evocative and image-fuelled foray into contemporary America, sunken wrecks of transportation shipsContinue Reading
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez
It’s hot, I’m sweaty, it’s almost late. I’ve just read a little novella by Gabriel García Márquez (Colombian, Nobel Laureate, octogenarianContinue Reading
Angle of Yaw by Ben Lerner
Ben Lerner’s recently published first novel, Leaving the Atocha Station, is a great read I’ve recommended to several people (ReviewContinue Reading
Important Artifacts and Personal Property From The Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion and Jewelry by Leanne Shapton
The day began with a shock. Pascale Petit, the poet, sent me a series of angry tweets about the reviewContinue Reading
Destination X by John Martz
Another original book from my local graphic novel publishing house, Nobrow, Destination X is a short science fiction piece about interstellarContinue Reading
The Plague by Albert Camus
Albert Camus was (according to the blurb of this 1960s Penguin edition) active in the French resistance during the NaziContinue Reading
What The Water Gave Me (Poems After Frida Kahlo) by Pascale Petit
Pacale Petit’s fifth poetry collection, What The Water Gave Me, is a verse biography of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. EachContinue Reading
Arrival and Departure by Arthur Koestler
This is the last of the lovely old books I bought whilst in Hay-on-Wye a few weeks ago, a charmingContinue Reading
Teaching My Mother How To Give Birth by Warsan Shire
Warsan Shire was born the same year I was, 1988, so reading this excellent collection of intelligent, though-provoking and matureContinue Reading
A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro’s first novel, A Pale View of Hills, doesn’t quite pack the emotional punch of his later, more famous, The RemainsContinue Reading
Under The Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
Malcolm Lowry was a tragic figure. A hugely talented writer, yet an alcoholic of such self-destructive proportions that he diedContinue Reading
Speedboat by Renata Adler
Renata Adler’s Speedboat is an award-winning experimental novel from 1976, recently republished by New York Review Books. I, however, was readingContinue Reading
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
I’m a sentimental, emotional, man. I’m sensitive. I feel. I feel big. And Jonathan Safran Foer’s 2005 Extremely Loud & IncrediblyContinue Reading
The Sweet Smell of Psychosis by Will Self
I bought this for two pounds in a Walthamstow Oxfam. Definitely worth it. A tiny little picaresque novella, less thanContinue Reading
See The Old Lady Decently by B. S. Johnson
B. S. Johnson’s final novel, the first part of the never-completed Matrix Trilogy, has been out of print for decades.Continue Reading
Triumph Of The Now 