3 BOOKS ABOUT BLACK AND WHITE FRIENDS

INTRUDER IN THE DUST

William Faulkner

This classic by Faulkner is actually a murder mystery.  Lucas Beauchamp, a black farmer, has been accused of murdering a white man. Before he is lynched, Lawyer Gavin Stevens and his nephew Chick must prove his innocence. Through reminiscences, a lovely friendship between Chick and Lucas is demonstrated. It's not as prosey and flowery with all the run on sentences one usually encounters in a Faulkner novel but still beautiful classic American literature.....

Some things you must always be unable to bear. Some things you must never stop refusing to bear. Injustice and outrage and dishonor and shame. No matter how young you are or how old you have got. Not for kudos and not for cash: your picture in the paper nor money in the back either. Just refuse to bear them.

FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE

Jonathan Lethem

This is a semi autobiographical novel about Dylan Ebdus, a white kid growing up in a gentrified black neighborhood in Brooklyn, and his black best friend Mingus Rude. Through them, all kinds of histories are explored: funk, hip hop, punk, new wave, cocaine, crack, science fiction, comics, bullying, prison, etc, etc. It captures childhood and puberty as well as the evolution of childhood friendships.

But the stories you told yourself-- which you pretended to recall as if they'd happened every afternoon of an infinite summer-- were really a pocketful of days distorted into legend, another jailhouse exaggeration, like the dimensions of those ballpoint-crosshatched tits or of the purported mountains of blow you once used to enjoy, or how you'd bellowed an avenger's roar when you squeezed the trigger of a pistol you'd actually brandished in self-pissing terror. How often had that hydrant even been opened? Did you jet water through a car window, what, twice at best? Summer burned a few afternoons long, in the end. 

FORTUNATE SON

Walter Mosley

This is tear jerker for sure. The tragic tale of  Thomas,  a bastard child born with a hole in his lung and his stepbrother, a nordic adonis, Eric. Every possible bad thing that can happen to a young black man in America seems to come to poor Thomas while Eric leads a charmed life. The love the brothers have for each other is shines through though. I think this is Mosleys best and it is definitely one of my all time favourite books.....

“I know you must wonder why it’s always me here and never your father," Branwyn said to her son one Thursday evening. “Elton has a lot of good qualities, but bein’ a father is not one of them. He left me for one of my girlfriends less than a month after we found out I was having you. He told me that he’d stay if I decided not to have the baby. But Elton had the choice to be with me or not and you didn’t. I couldn’t ask you if you minded if I didn’t have you and if you didn’t have a life to live. No sunshine or sandy beaches. You don’t even know what a sandy beach is. So I told Elton he could leave if he wanted to but I was havin’ my baby.

BOOK OF THE MONTH: GUN, WITH OCCASIONAL MUSIC by Jonathan Lethem

I was gonna talk about Lethems new book: The Ecstasy of Influence but I got half way through before the library took it back, and frankly, unless you're a hardcore fan, the essays and short blurbs might be a bit heady.....
Not having the new book, I decided to re-read an old one: GUN, WITH OCCASIONAL MUSIC.This is Lethems first published novel (which is being made into a movie!). It's so fun. It's a hardboiled detective novel (in the voice of Raymond Chandler) in a distopian science fiction world. Animals have been genetically engineered into a more evolved state and act as servants and lower level employees, babies growth is rapidly sped up so that they are independant in the first year( which leads to them being drunks and cynics). Pretty much everyone has their own personalized state sponsored drug blend for snorting. All media has become non-linear, TV is more like the itunes visualizer and the news is expressed with a soundtrack rather than words. But the best thing about the book is the protaganist, Conrad Metcalf, a classic private dick. Just like Marlowe or Sam Spade. His metaphors and descriptions are hilarious,
“Some people have things written all over their faces; the big guy had a couple of words misspelled in crayon on his.”
Reading this I was reminded how much I love most of Lethems work and how broad his styles are, I recommend almost anything he's written, especially Fortressof Solitude, Girl in Landscape and Chronic City......

BOOK OF THE WEEK: OUTER DARK by Cormac McCarthy

I was so excited when I discovered a Cormac book I hadn't read. OUTER DARK is about a brother and sister that live alone in the middle of nowhere. She has his baby and after its delivered he takes the baby and hides it in the woods where a trashy traveling salesman finds it. The brother, Culla Holmes, tells his sister Rinthy, that the baby died and that its buried in the back yard. She goes to dig it up and figures out the lie.

Eventually she leaves barefoot with only a dollar in her pocket to find her baby, chasing the only lead she has, the traveling salesman. Culla follows her. They meet various weirdos while traveling through a surreal and stark land.
Meanwhile 3 hillbilly graverobbing inbred flesheating evil motherfuckers are walking across the country hanging folks and fucking up shit.
The suspense builds, and as in any Cormac novel, the depressing shit builds to a crescendo of disheartening awfulness but his prose his so flowery and beautiful, one can't help but linger on and reread certain passages.....I highly recommend this book.

"Before him stretched a spectral waste out of which reared only the naked trees in attitudes of agony and dimly hominoid like figures in a landscape of the damned. A faintly smoking garden of the dead that tended away to the earth’s curve. He tried his foot in the mire before him and it rose in a vulvate welt claggy and sucking. He stepped back. A stale wind blew from this desolation and the marsh reeds and black ferns among which he clashed softly like things chained. He wondered why a road should come to such a place."

BOOK OF THE MONTH: BIG WOODS-THE HUNTING STORIES: WILLIAM FAULKNER

The only good thing about a Mexican stealing your brand new Ipod on your vacation is that you read a lot more. Luckily I brought 8 books with me and read 7 of them.  This was the first....
I had read all of the stories before in other short story collections but they are put together here in a more cohesive novel style, held together by little bits of prose between the stories. They are all about hunting, becoming a man and the progress that eventually destroys the purity and bond between men, dogs, horses and the deer, and bear that they hunt . I cried a couple times, but I cry for everything that I enjoy......amazing descriptions of hunting....and glimpses into a few other eras of Mississipi history.


God created man and He created the world for him to live in and I reckon He created the kind of world He would have wanted to live in if He had been a man--the ground to walk on, the big woods, the trees and the water, and the game to live in it. And maybe He didn't put the desire to hunt and kill game in man but I reckon He knew it was going to be there, that man was going to teach it to himself, since he wasn't quite God himself yet.

WILLIAM FAULKNER,

BOOK OF THE WEEK: SHARDIK by Richard Adams

When I was 12 I was totally into WATERSHIP DOWN, soon after I read THE PLAGUE DOGS. Then my Mom brought SHARDIK back for me and I just couldn't get into it. 28 years later, I gave it a chance and it's amazing.
What if Jesus was a really big bear instead of a man. How would we interpret his actions? How would his followers worship? That's kinda what his book is about.
It follows a hunter in an ancient tribal society after he discovers a giant bear who has been prophesied to be the return of God to earth. Of course, the bear proceeds to kill some heretics and destroy half the village and wander towards their enemies homeland. This is interpreted as a declaration of holy war. The people heed the call. The story follows the hunter and his people as well as a few other societies as they fight for supremecy. Corruption, slavery, religion, forgiveness and loyalty are some of the themes explored. It would make an epic movie but Jesus freaks wouldn't approve......

A TRILOGY OF GREAT TRILOGIES

LORD OF THE RINGS: JRR TOLKIEN
FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
TWO TOWERS
RETURN OF THE KING

Ya, it's dated, racist, and kinda gay but it's classic. I Started reading it when I was a kid and now I try to read it or the Hobbit once a year. There are some really beautiful lessons in there about mercy , forgiveness, loyalty and responsibility.
It makes me want to have kids just so I can read it to them. If you haven't read it by now, maybe you never will, but don't think watching the movies is any kind of replacement. As enjoyable as they were.....they kinda sucked.
If someone claims to have read it and you think they haven't, start talking about Sharky and the Scouring of the Shire at the end. They'll have no idea what the fuck your on about.....

THE SNOPES TRILOGY: WILLIAM FAULKNER

THE HAMLET

THE TOWN 

THE MANSION

Faulkner is my my all time favourite author. These books are crazy. It's a hell of a commitment and if you haven't read him before DO NOT start with this. Faulkner is legendary for prosy, run-on, stream of consciousness style sentences which become paragraphs and then pages. Sometimes you just have to read blind, try to absorb and then later on you get what he was talking about. 

This trilogy is the epic tale of the Snopes family in fictional Yoknapawtha county in Mississipi. It traces their rise from conniving scam artist poor white trash hustlers to conniving scam artist rich white trash hustlers. There is just so much in here. Poorly done murder, cow-love, peep shows, theiving,  mule murder, the dawn of the automobile, suicide, a porno theatre, fires,  race relations, southern philosophy.....and on and on.  So good and ahead of its time.

THE BORDER TRILOGY: CORMAC McCARTHY
ALL THE PRETTY HORSES
THE CROSSING
CITIES ON THE PLAIN

Most depressing cowboy stories ever, but amazing adventures. I've only read this once but I can't wait to go back. It's kind of about following your inner cowboy by running away from home to Mexico. All the Pretty Horses follows a pair of 16 year olds as they get in all kinds of shit across the border as they learn how to be cowboys.  The Crossing is a story about a boy and his younger brother crossing in to Mexico. Its a tragic tale about a boy and his wolf and life in all its horrific cheapness. Its stark and beautiful and surreal, an adventure story for boys you would never want to read to your sons.
Cities on the Plain is the story of both boys after they're grown working together on a ranch. It's the end of the cowboy way of life and it's clear that these guys just can't make it in a modern world. There is a love story with a Mexican whore that goes all wrong (of course) and tons more depressing shit, but McCarthy's writing is so rich and evocative you can't put it down.

BOOK OF THE WEEK: THE DEATH OF BUNNY MUNROE by Nick Cave

This is the second novel by Nick Cave. The first one '....AND THE ASS SAW THE ANGEL' is one of my all time favourite books. This one is enjoyable but certainly milder and not as dark. It's the story of a pussy obsessed door to door salesman and his nine year old son on  the road after the recent suicide of his wife.

Check out the website for samples of the rather epic audiobook read by Nick Cave and featuring a heartbreaking soundtrack. 

http://www.thedeathofbunnymunro.com/audiobook.html

BOOK OF THE WEEK: NICO-SONGS THEY NEVER PLAY ON THE RADIO by James Young

 

I once knew this junkie chick who was a dominatrix. At first, hanging out with her was exotic and interesting. She'd tell stories about nailing  a dudes dick to a couch or making a guy shove a coffee pot up his ass and she'd be charming and lovely. Her siamese cat was named Bran Muffin, it only ate sardines. I thought I was cool when I hung around her....like she was some kinda supermodel. 

Pretty quickly our relationship wasn't so glamorous. I would have to give her rides to dealers houses, lend her cash  and eventually ended up looking after her ancient and horrible cat (and footing the bills) while it shit and pissed all over everything. I think that's what knowing Nico must have been like. 

This book is hilarious. I normally hate biographies but this is a worthy read. It traces the attempted comeback of Nico in the 80's. It was Written by the guy who was hired to play keyboard for the world tour. Great characters, perfect descriptions of life in the 80's and the inside stories of some of those shitty songs with Nico's harmonium....I can't believe I have all that shit on vinyl......

BOOK OF THE WEEK:TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT by Graham Greene

I haven't done any book suggestions for a bit cuz I've been geeking out on lord Of The Rings (for about the millionth time) and it's going a little slow. I don't need to tell anybody how great a book that is. I used to read it every year but I haven't done it since the movies came out.
In any case, I guess I'll mention a book I read a while ago. 'Travels with my Aunt' is a great read. It has everything you want from a good Graham Greene novel. The protaganist is this lame old banker who is retiring when he meets his old Aunt for the first time in 50 years. He takes a trip with her to Brighton and finds that she smuggles dope, sleeps with young black men and has way more fun than he does. Of course he's appalled at first but learns to crave the excitement she provides. it's pretty fucking hilarious and might even make you cry.
Also check out The Comedians,  The Power and the Glory and Our Man in Havana. Although all his stuff is pretty good.

BOOK OF THE WEEK: A LION CALLED CHRISTIAN

https://www.facebook.com/degenerateplanet

By Anthony Bourke and John Rendall. This is the story behind the YouTube video of the reunion of Christian the lion and a couple of foppish hippies. Its actually pretty interesting and heartwarming. They try to justify buying a lion cub from Harrods in London in 1969 and keeping him in a store on Kings Rd.....eventually setting him free in Kenya....and when they explain it, you can't help but understand.
There are some tear jerker moments and some chuckles and it makes you wish you could have your own Lion. The only truly annoying thing is how often they mention the "YouTube Sensation"

BOOK OF THE WEEK: COUNT BELISARIUS by Robert Graves

If you like Roman history or just want to satisfy your inner D&D, LOTR geek, this is a great read. Its well researched historical fiction that takes place in the 6th century A.D. which is sort of Fall of the Roman Empire meets King Arthur times. Belisarius is an ass kicking strategist that pretty much single handedly takes back Africa, Italy and parts of the Middle East from Goths, Vandals, Huns and Persians for the Sissy Emporer of Rome (who now rules from Constantinople). Its funny, tragic, educational and the battles are fucking epic. Worth reading for the descriptions of the plague symptoms alone. I'm amazed that Hollywood hasn't tackled this yet. The politics of Rome are still so relevant. Also check out I, Claudius and Claudius the God.

BOOK OF THE WEEK: FAKE I.D. by Jason Starr

Jason Starrs books are noir, pulpy, and addictive. Seriously. You can read one in an afternoon. They tend to be about these loveable losers who go wrong somewhere along the way and the suspense just builds and builds. Fake ID is no exception. 

The main charachter is a failed actor turned bouncer with a bad gambling addiction and an anger management problem.....but all his problems would end if he can just come up with $10.000 to buy a racehorse.....