Middle Passage by Charles Johnson
middling swashbuckling adventure
Tag: America
Another Country by James Baldwin
another hagiography on Baldwin as scott packs up his north american life
Jarett Kobek & the Zodiac Killer (Motor Spirit & The Hunt for Zodiac)
two new books from Jarett Kobek about CRIME CRIME CRIME
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
struck down by covid, scott crawls into a classic novel
Clotel or, the President’s Daughter by William Wells Brown
excellent, significant, 19th century anti-slavery novel
Zora Neale Hurston (and a state-mandated medical exam)
in which the canadian state tests me for TB & syphilis
Joan Didion: The 1980s & 90s (PART THREE)
i cannot read myself happy
Joan Didion: The 1980s & 90s (PART TWO)
if u see a dead racoon at the side of the road
Four Repeater Books (two I recommend)
two excellent books, two not excellent books
on sleaze via Saul Bellow
sleaze is not a synonym for prurience
Fictionalising Fascism
don’t be stupid, be a smarty / read fiction ’bout the nazi party
Valentino and Sagittarius by Natalia Ginzburg
the lockdown continues and nothing changes
50 Words on Each of the Essays in Joan Didion’s Let Me Tell You What I Mean
Yes, it’s here, the new (new?) Joan Didion, so to celebrate I’m going to give a tiny tiny tiny commentContinue Reading
James Baldwin Threeway
baldwin, baldwin, baldwin
Sharks In The Time of Saviors [sic] by Kawai Strong Washburn
but sharks are evil, right?
Jazz by Toni Morrison
redressing a gap in my reading
Cane by Jean Toomer
ok toomer
A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by Bartolomé de las Casas
very early protest against colonialism
Native Son by Richard Wright
surprisingly good protest novel; thoughts on UK election result
Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
great early[ish] essays from one of america’s best
Most of my Heroes Don’t Appear On No Stamps by Ran Walker
brief comments on a collection of kwansabas
Blues For Mister Charlie by James Baldwin
a sad play from JB the master
And The Band Played On by Randy Shilts
an essential non-fiction read and a new documentary on its legacy
I Love Dick by Chris Kraus
a little bit of Vitamin D…
Known and Strange Things by Teju Cole
Teju Cole Me By Your Name
The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead
Colson Whitehead’s intriguing, if imperfect, debut
Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
ideologically, i’d love to tear this apart, but i cannot…
Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin
there ain’t no fool like a holy fool
My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf
a dark, engaging, affecting read
An American Dream by Norman Mailer
fun frothy men’s fiction
Negroland: A Memoir by Margo Jefferson
Finally, a book about race that makes me angry at myself
Notes From No Man’s Land by Eula Biss
great essay collection… from america
White Girls by Hilton Als
Off the booze (again), I enjoy a book but despair of life.
Trump & Me by Mark Singer
Trump cannot and will not be ignored.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
an accurate depiction of the lust and boredom that threatens to overwhelm all of us who aren’t pious, delusional, fuckheads
The Last Holiday: A Memoir by Gil Scott-Heron
The ‘Godfather of Rap’ offers a rose-tinted memoir.
Radar Road: The Best of On Impulse by Nath Jones
A short story collection, and my first experience of an eBook.
Consider the Lobster And Other Essays by David Foster Wallace
David bloody Foster bloody Wallace…
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
In America alone, 281 pounds of pig shit is produced for every one person per year. I don’t know if that’s a lot as I don’t know what a pound is.
The Book of Daniel by E. L. Doctorow
The Cold War is a period loved by fiction. The world at that time was cast into blurry, grey-stained, blackContinue Reading
Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy
The first Cormac McCarthy novel I read was 2006’s The Road, and it is by far and away his best.Continue Reading
Every Day Is For The Thief by Teju Cole
About a year ago I read and quite enjoyed Teju Cole’s Open City. It was a set text for myContinue Reading
The Bible: The Biography by Karen Armstrong
OK, yes, this is the second “history of Christianity” book in a row I’ve read, but it will be theContinue Reading
Journalism by Joe Sacco
Joe Sacco’s Journalism collects several short pieces (ranging from two to fifty pages in length) drawn and written in the decadeContinue Reading
Hope: A Tragedy by Shalom Auslander
Hope: A Tragedy is a dark, funny novel. Hilarious, yet also quite serious, it is the narrative of the mentalContinue Reading
Rabbit, Run by John Updike
I’m going to be utterly uncharacteristic and not write a glowing review of a book. I found Rabbit, Run a bitContinue Reading
Triumph Of The Now 