Posts tagged books

and adoring every sentence.

But I’ve never read any of her work before. Which one should I read first?

(I couldn’t find a copy of the cover with high enough resolution.)

I found this novel/collection of short stories pleasantly interesting and easy to read. I think it’s officially labelled as a collection of short stories, but they’re all loosely connected, and Buddy the narrator occasionally refers to characters from previous stories.

It charts significant moments of Buddy’s life in 1970s New Jersey from being in the Cub Scouts to his first year at college, dealing with typical themes such as sex, drugs, race, relationships, and death. You’d expect a book with such ubiquitous themes to be a bit of a cliche or a bore, but I found it fresh. Buddy observes the world with a positive eye, and he never seems to find himself in a crestfallen pit (the only time I remember him in one, he escapes it very quickly).

I revelled in Perrotta’s style. He’s concise and fluent - like he’s spoken his words into a recorder and played them back and written them down. He doesn’t lunge into excruciating detail or explicitly state something either. He lets the characters actions intimate the undertone of each story. The simplicity of his writing harmonises well with Buddy’s personality and the book’s themes. It shows that a good writer can take a common life event and turn it into an engaging tale.

If you fancy an easy and pleasant read, I recommend this.

A very good, thick, thorough read. It immediately reminded me of the film Wall Street, which was released at a similar time. I read there’s a film adaptation of Bonfire but that it is complete and utter shit. (And has Bruce Willis as Fallow - if you’ve read the book then you’ll know why that makes no sense.)

I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to read a book that explores a wide variety of issues and themes, and who wants to read a writer who loves to write.

I’ve also got the phrase, ‘The Lion of Dunning, Sponget and Leach’ stuck in my head.

• The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• 1984
• The Bonfire of the Vanities
• The Centauri Device
• Desolation Angels
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
• Crime and Punishment
• The Man Who Japed
• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
• Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ‘72
• The General in his Labyrinth

Furrowed forehead indeed…

I recently completed Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates. It may be depressing as hell, but I admire Yates’ style. It feels so simple and free-flowing, and he’s not afraid to add little touches or parentheses to a larger sentence when another writer would probably use a whole other sentence to provide that snippet of information. (What always springs to mind, for me, is in Disturbing the Peace when Paul Berg approaches the bar and Yates adds - “Make it light” - and it sends shivers up my spine how good that little break is. Now I’m starting to look a bit weird, so…)

Anyway, I had the feeling there was going to be a bleak outcome, so I actually didn’t read this for about 2 weeks, believing this would leave the characters in their bliss forever. But if you’re looking for a good writer, I recommend Mr Yates.

mr hemingway

still can’t decide what to read next.

raymond chandler? f. scott fitzgerald? hunter s thompson? tom wolfe? mark twain? william s burroughs? haruki murakami? richard yates? michael chabon? gabriel garcia marquez? george orwell? jane austen?

or confessions of a yakuza? it sounds quite eye delicious.

assistance, please, for a confused young man.