That Lonesome Valley by Melissa Lee-Houghton
some thoughts on a novel you should probably read
Tag: Drugs
The Blood Miracles by Lisa McInerney
a good but simpler follow up to The Glorious Heresies
Every Fox Is A Rabid Fox by Harry Gallon
death, dying, dead
So Far From God by Veronica Gonzalez Peña
phenomenal essay on Mexican corruption
Mi novio Caballo [My Boyfriend, the Horse] by Xiomara Correa
a book about modern love i.e. travel and drugs and sex with a horse
Street of Thieves by Mathias Enard
another ruddy belter from enard who i love
Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black by Cookie Mueller
some really gorgeous prose
Every Love Story Is A Ghost Story by D. T. Max
David Foster Wallace was a prick.
The Best of A Bad Situation by Jamie Thrasivoulou
Angry poetry from the badlands of the East Midlands.
Music & Literature No. 7
I get angry and confused because I’m repressed and have elitist interests
The Son by Andrej Nikolaidis
More contemporary Balkan writings and my opinions on criminalisation of narcotics
Dysfunctional Males by Fernando Sdrigotti
Men are disgusting.
On Urinals
How many men must a man urinate in front of before you can call him a man?
Blitzed by Norman Ohler
Hipster military history: if you’re not cool, this isn’t for you…
The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney
I’m bored of life, but this book’s a banger.
The 24-Hour Wine Expert by Jancis Robinson
Should non-fiction books about intoxicants even be legal, yeah?
The Trip to Echo Spring by Olivia Laing
I’m an abyss filling up with regret and alcohol at equal measure, like a really wet martini.
Hip-Scott: Pass the Dostoevsky on the Left Hand Side
Please enjoy my hot new drag-hop video:
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Iran. Who knows much about it? We’ve all seen Argo, we’ve all heard of nuclear weapons, we’re all aware thatContinue Reading
Love, Sex & Other Foreign Policy Goals by Jesse Armstrong
Until yesterday, when I read the last 100 pages of Jesse Armstrong’s Love, Sex & Other Foreign Policy Goals, IContinue Reading
Green Girl by Kate Zambreno
I have read Kate Zambreno’s Green Girl for my book club, and will now write a review in two parts.Continue Reading
10:04 by Ben Lerner
Well, I just wrote a huge, gushing review of this and then my computer crashed and deleted it. So, withContinue Reading
Filth by Irvine Welsh
Recently I’ve been very much enjoying Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong*’s Channel 4 police drama, Babylon. This under-watched TV showContinue Reading
Maya’s Notebook by Isabel Allende
I’ve said it before and I will say it again: Isabel Allende is brilliant, an under-rated writer of supreme skill,Continue Reading
Lonesome Traveler by Jack Kerouac
Last Summer, whilst twatpacking* around the Mediterranean, Tunisair lost my backpack between Casablanca and Tunis. Though it contained nothing ofContinue Reading
Working the Room by Geoff Dyer
As often happens with essay collections (particularly ones read for the writer’s personality rather than his or her topics), WorkingContinue Reading
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
This is a book I’ve read a lot about. It is referred to repeatedly in both Ben Yagoda’s Memoir: AContinue Reading
Opium: The Diary of his Cure by Jean Cocteau
Opium: The Diary of his Cure is an odd, but engaging, book by the French not-Surrealist modernist Jean Cocteau. FriendContinue Reading
Generation X by Douglas Coupland
Well, err… this was nothing like I expected. I LOVED, when I was younger, the brash 80s decadencia* of writersContinue Reading
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas de Quincey
Thomas de Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium-Eater is basically a mediocre 19th century Trainspotting, but without the funny, sad or exciting bitsContinue Reading
Kapow! by Adam Thirlwell
I read Adam Thirlwell’s debut novel, Politics, a couple of months ago and quite enjoyed it, though didn’t feel itContinue Reading
On Going To The Football
Last Saturday I did something utterly unprecedented and attended a professional football match. It feels like it happened ages ago,Continue Reading
Junky (The Definitive Text of ‘Junk’) by William S. Burroughs
After the horrors I went through when I gave up my serious ibuprofen addiction last week (surprisingly messy), I thoughtContinue Reading
Ul-Essaouira-sses: James Joyce and 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
We’re Chefchaouen Most Our Lives: Living In A Stoner’s Paradise
In the Rif mountains, a little under halfway between Tangier and Fes, is the beautiful blue town of Chefchaouen. ItsContinue 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
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
Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner
Leaving the Atocha Station is a recent novel written by a young American poet who spent a year living in MadridContinue Reading
On Cocaine at the Hay-on-Wye Festival
I stumbled, heady on free cheese and Spanish lager, into a temporary toilet cubicle at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival, lockedContinue Reading
On The Fear of Things I’ve Laughed Uproariously At Other People For In The Past Becoming Traits/Weaknesses I Display
It’s water in that glass. Hence the face. I’ve been drinking a lot of Port recently. This happened for threeContinue Reading
Old School Friend
‘Which way?’ ‘Wherever, man. Just somewhere without CCTV, you know? My ket dealer got fuckin’ three years ‘cause some factoryContinue Reading
Triumph Of The Now 