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defrog
The book pile isn’t getting any smaller. But it’s not for lack of trying. Progress report follows:JUST FINISHED
Ancient Gonzo Wisdom: Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson, edited by Anita Thompson
Posthumous collection of interviews with Hunter Thompson from the late 60s when he made his name with Hell’s Angels up to his death in 2005. It also includes a couple of transcripts of his 70s “lectures” where he basically fielded terrible questions from students who expected him to live up to his persona in Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. Some interviews are more insightful than others, but it does illustrate the degree to which HST was a victim of his own success, and why Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail ’72 was the kind of book that HST could only get away with once. To be fair, it also illustrates the fact that his interviews and political insights got a lot more jumbled and paranoid as he got older, though sometimes that depends on the quality of the interviewer.
JUST STARTED
Who Killed Art Deco? by Chuck Barris
Yes, that would be Chuck Barris as in the Gong Show and Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind. It’s a murder mystery. Why not?
RECENT TITLES
Fluke: or, I Know Why The Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore
More comic weirdness from Moore about a biologist in Hawaii studying humpback whales and analyzing their songs, who spots a whale with the message BITE ME on its tailfins, then returns to find his office trashed and the picture of the whale message deleted from his film roll. Later, his bankroller tells him the whale phoned and wants him to bring a pastrami sandwich next time he goes out. It just gets weirder from there. I’m a big fan of Moore, and Fluke didn’t change that.
Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott
Using the real-life Winnie Ruth Judd murder case as a template, Abbott spins a Depression-era noir tale about small-town girl and young wife Marion Seely – abandoned in Phoenix by her heroin-addicted doctor husband – who gets mixed up with fun-loving redhead nurse Louise, her tubercular roommate Ginny, and local business bigwig and playboy Joe Lanigan. Sin, sex and scandalous parties ensue as Joe shows Marion what she don’t know how, until Marion starts finding clues to the ugly truth behind the veneer of fun and games. The themes of lust, sin and redemption are prevalent throughout, and as usual, Abbott’s lyrical flair and grasp of pulp-fiction slang and melodrama is slightly overdone at times but otherwise brilliant. This is her fourth book and my third time reading her, and I remain very impressed.
A Taste For Death by Peter O’Donnell
The fourth Modesty Blaise novel, in which arch-enemy Gabriel returns in the company of Simon Delicata, a jolly but sadistic giant with super strength and a high IQ on the hunt for lost Roman treasure in North Africa. Modesty and Willie Garvin get mixed up via Dinah Pilgrim, a blind girl with psychic powers who Delicata wants to help divine the location of the jewels. A bit far-fetched, but I’d expect nothing less from a Modesty Blaise book. Not bad, but the weak spot is Modesty’s love interest Steve Collier, who spends most of the book complaining.
Doom Patrol, Vol. 5: Magic Bus by Grant Morrison, Richard Case and Mark McKenna
The Morrison take on the Doom Patrol continues with Mr Nobody running for President as the Brotherhood of Dada stages a cross-country campaign on a hallucinogenic bus, and then takes a dark turn as Crazy Jane runs off to settle an old score, Dorothy’s psychic issues escalate and the Doom Patrol starts to fall apart. Good stuff, if you don’t mind Morrison’s occasional indulgent tangents into Burroughs-style cut-up weirdness.
Get onto the bus,
This is dF
