filed under Books
Pulp Addicted
9:38AM ON
07/03/2008
BY
Eric Smith
From Pulp Addict, a weekly documentation of cool stuff that comes through my bookstore. This week; Thompson, Anthony Bourdain, James Frey, and Bob Woodward.
Generation Of Swine: The Gonzo Papers Vol. 2, Hunter S. Thompson (Summit 1988) Just one of the seemingly endless collection of Thompson’s 80’s-era essays shares its most telling HST passage in the almost throwaway introduction, which begins with a line from Revelation of all places: “And I will give him the morning star.”, after which Hunter takes over: “I have stolen more quotes and thoughts and purely elegant little starbursts of writing from the Book of Revelation than anything else in the English language–and it is not because I am a biblical scholar, or because of any religious faith, but because I love the wild power of the language and the purity of the madness that governs it and makes it music.” From there on HST is in typical form; relentlessly skewering Reagan era cold war paranoia, the ‘86 Senate elections, James Bakker’s epic fall from grace and the art (or act) of journalism itself: “I have spent my life trying to get away from journalism, but I am still mired in it–a low trade and a habit worse than heroin–a strange world full of misfits and drunks and failures.”
Gone Bamboo, Anthony Bourdain (Villard, 1997) While now more famous for his TV shows and Kitchen Confidential, (which I still haven’t read, so if someone could sell a copy to the store that would be great…) in the late 90’s Mr. Bourdain tried his hand at gritty, darkly humorous crime thrillers, his first being Bone in the Throat, which dealt with druggy chefs and fat mafiosos tearing up NYC’s Greenwich Village and Little Italy. In Gone Bamboo, he goes tropical with an ex-CIA husband and wife duo living as ex-pats somewhere in the Caribbean. Enter two mobsters, one a cross-dressing transvestite (yes), the other with a colostomy bag and a heart of gold, and you have a depraved thriller of Hiaasen-like hilarity. Probably. I only read the first chapter.
Bright Shiny Morning, James Frey (Harper, 2008) James Frey, what a jerkoff. The jacket copy of his latest work of fiction (as opposed to his last one. Zing!) refers to the author as, “One of the most celebrated and controversial authors in America.” You mean, because he’s a liar? I could do that! Anyways, the novel follows a bunch of L.A. people who ramble through their L.A. lives and eventually cross paths and do drugs and have sex. There’s no way I’m reading the whole thing but a sampling of various chapters over the last hour or so tells me I’m not missing much. Still, nice to have a brand new release in a used bookstore…
State Of Denial: Bush At War, Part III, Bob Woodward (Simon & Shuster, 2006) I’m slowly working my way through this epic and frankly scary-as-shit accounting of Bush’s presidency from his very first considerations of running for president through the recruitment of his national security team, the war in Afghanistan and the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The first five or so chapters are notable for how much of a psychopath Donald Rumsfeld was (and is) and the hidden role war criminal Henry Kissinger played in the construction of all that will be Bush’s lasting legacy.
Come visit me sometime: Book By Book, 1005 Main St. Pawtucket in Thee Hope Artiste Village.
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