Friday 3 April 2015

What I read in March

This month was supposed to be Multicultural March, which i kind of failed at a bit, but hey ho...*whistles*


Burning The Days by James Salter

If you've read any Salter you already know he can write like a wizard. I found these recollections a bit of a struggle, though i liked the bits where he hung out with Robert Redford.


Schoolgirl by Osamu Dazai

Strangely charming novella by this doomed Japanese author. A day in the life of a teenage girl, which despite being from 1939 felt actually timeless, the woes of adolescence always feel contemporary don't they?


One Moonlit Night by Caradog Prichard

Really enjoyed this weird little hymn to the horrors and joys of life in a small Welsh village, as seen through the eyes of a child. Kind of sweet, aside from all the poverty, death, insanity, adultery and gothicky old-world religious fervour.


Minotaur by Benjamin Tammuz

Yawnfest.


The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

I was determined to read some Baldwin, as a friend of mine is actually in love with him. Got about half way through Another Country and gave up, then I picked this up and yep, it's raw and angry and you can see how influential it would've been to the civil rights movement. The opening letter to his nephew is the best bit though.


Silent Running (BFI Film Classics) by Mark Kermode

Kermode's adorably nerdy ode to one of his (and my) favourite films is inessential but a nice way to pass an afternoon.


Faces In The Crowd by Valeria Luiselli

Luiselli is smart, obsessive, odd and there is something about her work that clings to you like a sucky-fish. This is fiction that messes about with the idea of the novel, it starts off as one thing and ends up something else. Lovely.


Nothing Personal by Jason Starr

Starr's update on noir is totally New York and kind of nasty. No Exit Press are reissuing these with some shit-hot new covers and whilst this was totally page-turnery and trashy and very dark, i'd say you wanna go read Tough Luck instead, which is damn near perfect.

And here's what Sian read.


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