I'm not sure if it's a positive or negative to look back what one has read or saw or heard the past 12 months, but since I love journals and journal writing, I'm a fan of this addiction. 2017 on one level is the worse, with respect to the world outside my world. On the other hand, I'm doing fantastic. Usually, I read 100 books a year, but in 2017 I have been busy writing and putting together my memoir (to be published by City Lights in 2018). The list of books down below is my top of the top list, but in no special order:
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| New Directions |
The author reflects on his life through his landscape, which is the room. I would recommend writers to read this book, in the same sense one can read Raymond Queneau's "Exercises in Writing" or Joe Brainard's "I Remember." It reminds me that one is never truly shut off from the world when they have pen and paper.
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| University of California Press |
"Lectures & Conversations" is an absorbing book. It's ironic that it's a book about communicating what you think, but here, it is being filtered and written down as notes by his students in Cambridge in the 1930s. The primary focus of this small book is aesthetics. In how one sees something and how they describe that experience. In this part of the book alone, there are two students' notes of the lecture, which is interesting because you're getting the same information (we think), but the fact that it is two separate people, how they process that information. So overall the book is about what Wittgenstein is stating, bu then how that information or his thoughts are being dealt with in a lecture format.
The other subject matters in this book are psychology and religious belief. Wittgenstein reading Freud is a mind-bending experience. The landscape is so huge, and Wittgenstein I feel works best in a smaller context. For instance, what is on the table, and what does that mean to you? He didn't comment on that, but I'm just using that as an example, compared to the meaning of dreams.
Since I have been reading off and on, Wittgenstein, for the past five years or so, I can see his presence in my work. I don't fully grasp everything he writes or lectures about, but I get the 'drift.' In his nature, he writes like a poet, who thinks logically. I'm a fan of Wittgenstein.
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| Dey Street Books |
Glam is the warped circus sideshow mirror of what was happening in the mainstream music world. The singer-songwriter from Laurel Canyon was still upon us during the glam era, and it's an interesting contrast looking back and see how both worlds dealt with each other. In fact, they didn't. The Eagles had a hatred for the show-biz aspect of rock (I.E. Alice Cooper, etc.) and I suspect the glam gang hated The Eagles. I hated The Eagles as well. So my loyalty is strong for the men who wore lipstick.
For me, there is nothing new, but that is only because I'm an obsessed fan of the glam era. What I do suspect is that readers who are not familiar with this world will find Reynolds book a very inviting entrance to that planet. The bibliography in the back of the book is brilliant, but I'm surprised that there isn't a discography as well. Perhaps budget/printing issues, and this is a mega huge book.
As a historian, I feel Reynolds captures Rodney's English Disco (pub) years accurately as I remembered it. He has a good sense of narrative drive for the reader to keep on reading this book. And his last chapter on Bowie's "Blackstar" album is a sad ending. Glam is very much part of the rock DNA, and I suspect that it will never go away - quietly.
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| Spurl Editions |
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| The University of Chicago Press |
"Before Pictures" is a book that I wouldn't expect from Crimp. It's very personal, and perhaps one of the best books from a gay perspective on New York City and its haunts. The book is centered on the fact that he curated a show called "Pictures" which was influential due it had Robert Longo, Cindy Sherman, and others. He was a critic who was/is interested in how the arts merge into pop culture. What I like about this book is that it's a very focused memoir on the place, time, and the nature of one's sexuality and love of the arts can all meet on a specific landscape. When he writes about the disco era it's fascinating, maybe because I just think of him as an art critic and not a guy who actually had a public life in such a wonderful environment. Or his interest in the Ballet, which is quite deep, and of course, like everything else in this book, deals with a relationship. A superb memoir that touches on a lot of issues. His love (I think) for Manhattan and some other locations. The Fire Island part of the book was equally fascinating to me. Essential gay culture literature, and of course, a very insider's view of the arts during the 1970s through the 1980s. Wonderful.
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| Notting Hill Editions |
The brilliance of his essay (speech) on the bombings in different German cities is that he doesn't play the victim's card. He looks at them for what they are. A destruction that killed and disrupted many lives, but in the shadow of Hitler's horrible vision of the world. Through Sebald's descriptive writing, one can almost taste the misery and the essence of the hopelessness of it all. Hitler's goal was to bomb London. He would go into detail about how the flames would eat up the English capital in horror overtures. The irony is that it happened to his own country. The vision he brought to the world, didn't exactly worked out for him (or Germany).
The Alfred Andersch essay is fascinating, due to how Sebald, a fellow German, see this individual within the Nazi/World War II environment. Andersch is a writer I know nothing of, till I read Sebald's piece. It seems in certain circles and through his writing, he was the good moral German during the Nazi years. Sebald feels differently. In a critical and almost cold-like manner, he cuts into the Andersch myth of the good Nazi. Reading it, I'm struck by how the individual deals with the issue of morality and identity in a landscape that is both dangerous and quite evil. I think we at this moment and time, feel the same regarding a certain individual in the White House. It's hard not to read this book and not think of the destruction in Palestine, Libya, and other parts of the world.
The Notting Hill Edition of "On The Natural History of Destruction" is a beautifully designed and elegant book. Which makes the book even more compelling in how this devastating text is placed in such a seductive packaging.
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| Semitext |
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| Sensitive Skin |
First of all, I don't know if one can look at this book as fiction, non-fiction, a journal - it can be a combination of all three. The way I read it, "Paris Scratch is between a memoir and a travel journal. It is similar to taking a photo by or sketching on paper a scene in front of the author. The book consists of 365 chapters/sections, which in theory can be an actual year. "Paris Scratch" is not a book of lists, but deeply investigations of feelings, places, and people, as conveyed by the author. Various French artists and authors, as well as pop singers, run through the pages, but also foreign writers such as Henry Miller commenting on Paris. It's a city that has a lot of cultural baggage, and there is no way getting around the awesomeness of the place - and plantenga clearly conveys the magic that is or was Paris.
Entirely personal, and one-of-a-kind approach to Paris, plantenga successfully writes about a place that most readers of this book will be familiar with - yet, will discover new sensibilities and sensual aspects of a city well-lived, and reported by exquisite writers, for instance, bart plantenga.
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| Semiotext |
If you dig deep enough in one's favorite literary bookstore or library, you can find books on Roussel in English. What is there not to like about him? He was rich, and he spent his fortune in producing his books as well as doing a big budget theater piece based on his masterpiece "Impressions of Africa." He had a limo/automobile in the 1900s that was probably the first limo, or at least a car where he didn't have to leave to go to the bathroom. He wore his suits once, and then never again. The ultimate dandy in a country (France) full of dandies. But his real brilliance is his writings. Word-play, amazing non-plotting, yet spectacular images of new machines, and even newer locations. One can think of him as an early pioneer of science fiction narrative. Mark von Schlegell wrote a beautiful and fascinating essay on Roussel, where he states the importance of Roussel's work in line with Jules Verne and Edgar Allen Poe. The thing with Roussel, in many ways, he predicted the Internet, and the method of artists who had their fortune, produce work for the consumer.
Schlegell makes interesting sight into the world of Roussel, and how one shouldn't only look at him as a man of wealth (which he was of course) but also as a worker, who could work anywhere in the world. He built his car which is a combination of a mobile home as well as a workspace where he can do his writing anywhere in the world, with the help of a large ship as well. Him being mobile gave him the ability to see the world, but the real travel was always in his head and within the boundaries of his imagination.
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| Da Capo |
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| Karma |
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| Faber & Faber |
According to Savage, '66 is the year where the 60s started to happen. Acid (LSD) was hitting the teenage market, and politics, due to racial and Vietnam, were impossible to ignore. Also, 1966 was the year when things got psychedelic, but at the same time, it got darker. Things were groovy, but there were signs that things will turn to shit around the corner. In a remarkable feat of excellent writing/reporting, Savage captures these series of moments in what I think was a correct and realistic manner. There are at least four locations here in the book: Los Angeles, London, San Francisco, and New York City. The book has 12 chapters, representing each month in 1966, and the focus to start off the discussion is usually a very obscure 45 rpm single. Perhaps 1966 was the last year of the single as an artform. Not saying that were not great 45 rpm work in the future, but as a statement, for example, The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" which took months for them to complete.
The book covers a lot of ground. Savage doesn't forget feminism, gay liberation, students, and cinema as well as the music world/scene. He covers Joe Meek to Country Joe and The Fish. It's a large book that is over 500 pages, with an incredible discography. Savage is an obsessed music lunatic, who can write and think objectively but also very pointed in his view of that world. It's that balancing act and his intelligence that makes him such a great social historian.
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| New Directions |
And since I'm Boris Vian's English language publisher, it's great to know that he appreciated and loved Vian's work.
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| Bloomsbury |
"The Dream Colony" is an excellent memoir. Although I do disagree with certain things (like above) and making it sound like my dad didn't like Irving Blum, which as far as I know is not the case at all - is a superb look of the Los Angeles art scene as well as an excellent series of narratives from Walter. Reading the book I can hear his voice, and there is at least one great (and usually) hysterical story per page. This is not a stuffy art bio or autobiography; this is the world seen through Walter's eyes. He was a remarkable and very articulate lover of art. He wasn't schooled in a specific school. He allowed himself to roam through art collections and Walter pretty much knew art in a very instinct manner.
He was a man of great taste and had the brilliant talent of being in the right place at the right time. Walter never wrote anything as far as I know. He mostly dictated his essays and introductions to catalog through another's typing. Everything here that Walter says about himself is basically true, and his lateness in doing things was legendary. Still, he had the vision of giving my dad his first (and only, in his lifetime) gallery show, as well as giving Marcel Duchamp his first retrospective in Pasadena. I was there at the Duchamp opening!
Deborah Treisman and Anne Doran did a fantastic job in editing this book. Ed Ruscha's introduction is smart, warm, and entirely correct. I know it must be difficult to do a project like this, especially after Walter's passing. "The Dream Colony," I think is one of the better books regarding the art world of the 20th century. Walter always struck me as a romantic figure, and I can understand those who are seduced or swayed by his presence and thoughts on art. He was the real deal. And yes, I don't agree on certain narratives that run in this book, it is still Walter's story - and that is not a bad thing at all.
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| Melville House |
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| Duke University |
Corbett recognizes the importance of sharing one's love of a collection and showing it to someone else. He not only shows this body of work but also explains what and where they came from. It's a geek book of course, but a very generous one, where the reader doesn't feel left out of the information or more importantly, the passion of such a collection.
The book is beautifully designed in that every album he writes about we can see the record cover as well. All entries listed here are not on CD or streaming, as of the publication's date. If you're a music collector, all this will do is make one keep a list to check out later. Corbett also writes an essay on the issues of collecting and his history of his passion. There is also an excellent piece at the end of the book regarding his over-the-top passion: Sun Ra. I sense there will be a separate detailed account of that subject matter in another book by Corbett. Nevertheless, this has been a total fun read for me and made me re-think what I do with my music blog regarding my collection. Learn from the master!
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| FSG |
Every page is a reflection of the classic New York landscape. One that I often imagined in fiction, films, and music. Reading this memoir, I have The Lovin' Spoonful as a soundtrack in my brain. No mention of the band within its pages, but that is what I bring to the text as a reader. The Shopsin family are well-known in the Village and beyond, due that they had a food market, which turned into a legendary diner. I've been there twice, and the food was incredible, but beyond that one goes there for the spectacle; the theater that comes with the restaurant. I can't think of another diner that is so enjoyable, as well as entertaining. The chances of being insulted by the owner (the author's father) are in the 70% bracket. Of course, it's worth taking a chance, because it's an amazing show. And again the food is great.
Tamara Shopsin's book captures the flavor of her family which in turn means classic New York City. Every page has a wisdom or philosophy either made by Tamara, or by the mom Eve, or dad Kenny. This is the book to have when one is feeling down or depressed. The life that comes off these pages is rich, brilliant, and hysterical. The sad thing is Manhattan has changed into a huge shopping mall mentality. Shopsin captures the moments why one would want to visit NYC in the first place, as well as a focused snapshot of life being lived at its intense pleasure.
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| New Directions |
I'm fascinated with a writer's residence. Especially a writer like Marcel Proust, who lived in Paris, yet, couldn't stand outside noise. He had lined up cork in his room to keep sounds out, but alas, where does one stop, when it becomes an obsession. Ironically enough, or perhaps cruelty playing at fate, his upstairs neighbor was a dentist with his office right over his bedroom. Proust deal with this problem by addressing various correspondence to the upstairs neighbor's wife, Mme Williams. Often sent with flowers, compliments, or books. Proust, even at his wit's end, was a charmer. Any other temperament, it could have been war. Alas, it was more of a problem for the whole building to solve. The upside of this situation is that Proust and Mme Williams became close friends. She made music in her and husband's apartment, and often Proust complimented the sounds above.
"Letters to His Neighbor" is a very brief small book. All the correspondence is from Proust, so you don't get Mme Williams commentary in the above narrative. Still, and not surprisingly, the letters by Proust are written so beautifully. One wonders if the world would be a better place on Social platforms like Facebook if writers of Proust's talents were on it? The book is beautifully translated from the French to English by the great Lydia Davis. Her afterword puts a focus on the relationship between the two neighbors but also comments on the Proust apartment which I found fascinating. There is even a floor plan of Proust's apartment. Also, we get what living inside Proust's headquarters was like. According to Davis, the apartment was stuffed with his family's furniture, and it must have been like the world within a world.
"Letters to His Neighbors" is slight, but its the devil in the details, and gives some light to "Swann's Way" as well to his other volumes of the same series. Proust fanatics will want this, but again, it's the writer's lifestyle that I find of great interest. As a guy who sits behind his computer, I can imagine what Proust had to go through for his work. After all noise or quiet is a subjective view of the world.
"Letters to His Neighbor" is a very brief small book. All the correspondence is from Proust, so you don't get Mme Williams commentary in the above narrative. Still, and not surprisingly, the letters by Proust are written so beautifully. One wonders if the world would be a better place on Social platforms like Facebook if writers of Proust's talents were on it? The book is beautifully translated from the French to English by the great Lydia Davis. Her afterword puts a focus on the relationship between the two neighbors but also comments on the Proust apartment which I found fascinating. There is even a floor plan of Proust's apartment. Also, we get what living inside Proust's headquarters was like. According to Davis, the apartment was stuffed with his family's furniture, and it must have been like the world within a world.
"Letters to His Neighbors" is slight, but its the devil in the details, and gives some light to "Swann's Way" as well to his other volumes of the same series. Proust fanatics will want this, but again, it's the writer's lifestyle that I find of great interest. As a guy who sits behind his computer, I can imagine what Proust had to go through for his work. After all noise or quiet is a subjective view of the world.
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| The Visible Press |
Cinema was not separated from 'real' life - even Hollywood had to reflect on the outside world once in awhile. For me, and this is entirely a subjective view there is two type of fans of cinema. The one that gets into the merchandising and the inner world of that medium - mostly the comic.com generation, that offers a peculiar view of the world that is half-made up and almost have a will of steel in bringing that world up in their everyday lives. And then there is the cinema that reflects on the politics, the concerns, and the nature of being human in a world that's often unsettling. These two sometimes go hand-in-hand, or more likely take two separate highways to get to their destination. "Slow Writing" is a book that reflects on the 'outside' world but through the medium of the cinema. It's a fantastic series of essays focusing on Ozu to Christian Marclay, Warhol, and for me an obscure filmmaker Pedro Costa.
Thom Andersen writes clearly and doesn't have the slightest whiff of academia confusion or stance. He's a guy who goes to the movies and thinks about them afterward. His interest in politics, film noir, and the Hollywood Red scare era is a toxic seduction to get the reader involved with 20th-century pop cultural history. It is also a world that bites very hard and doesn't let go of its fans or those who dwell in the history of the urban landscape - especially Los Angeles in this case. "Slow Writing" is a perfectly paced book. The essays blend into the others as if one is bathing in its water. Over the years I have read great books on film, and "Slow Writing" is without a doubt a classic volume on the subject matter, as well as commentary on Los Angeles seen through the medium of film, and how that reflects on the actual world, that most of us dwell in.
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| Wakefield Press |
The band Television means a lot to me. Even before I heard a note of their music, they had great importance to me. I saw a photo of the band when Richard Hell was in it, and I was intrigued by their visuals. I liked the haircuts and their clothing. It was no frills and all attitude. I must have been around 18 or 19 when Television hit my consciousness. Not long after, but for sure after Hell left the band, I purchased their single on Ork Records, Little Johnny Jewel" at my local punk rock record store, Bomp Records in the Valley. I heard a sound that matched their vision. To this day, and we're talking 40 years later, Television is still a mystery to me.
I have read a lot of books regarding the New York music explosion of the 1970s, including "Please Kill Me" (an excellent book) and various memoirs by musicians of that period (all of them are pretty good). Still, what is Television? And on top of that, who is Tom Verlaine" Richard Lloyd who was one of the remarkable and fascinating characters that came out of the "Please Kill Me" book and even more important, a brilliant guitarist in Television. Verlaine and Lloyd were the bookends, and Billy Ficca (drums) and Fred Smith roamed between those two. Verlaine was and is the primary composer for Television (Hell, when he was in the band, shared songwriting duties, and is brilliant), but that group is constructed like a piece of architecture. Lloyd was part of the building blocks to build this magnificent sound that is Television.
"Everything Is Combustible" is a remarkable memoir, due that Lloyd is a good prose writer and a fascinating guy. Very straightforward, yet metaphysical in his approach to his life, and even with his addictions. He has a mind like a scientist, who wants to analyze the things and people in front of him or in his sights. One of my favorite parts of the book is when Lloyd tries to look at his drug addiction clearly and showed frustration when a medical doctor tries to get him to a 12 step program. At the time, Lloyd wasn't interested in quitting drugs; he just wanted to know in detail the nature of addiction and how it affects the brain/body. In such fashion, he reminds me of William S. Burroughs. To investigate the 'unknown' and somehow try to make it more 'known.'
Lloyd writes his memoir as if it's an original science paper. When he attaches to something, he doesn't let go, until Lloyd masters whatever he desires. His guitar obsession is singular and it's his devotion to the instrument that made him such a remarkable musician. He's egotistical in a sense he knows what he can do, yet his appreciation of other artists are quite open and in its way, a strong focus on him as well. He casually knew Jimi Hendrix as a teenager. I gather he wanted to know what made him such an iconic and fantastic musician. He doesn't look at Hendrix as a fanboy but like a scientist studying in a laboratory. For the mystery part, that is still a mystery to me. The reader gets facts regarding the inner-workings of Television, but what made Tom Verlaine be such an odd fellow? Richard Hell in his memoir wrote about Verlaine, and they were great friends, yet, I didn't feel Hell could penetrate the mystery that's Tom Verlaine. Lloyd doesn't get any closer to Verlaine's character, but you do get great stories about him not using luggage, but laundry or store bags to keep his clothing. The fact is Verlaine is a very strange being and somewhat guarded. One gathers he is a control freak and wants to be in control of Television, but what was it in his background that turn him out that way? Lloyd doesn't answer that question, nor do other memoirists/music historians.
"Everything Is Combustible" is a must-read for those who are fascinated with the CBGB's New York rock world. For whatever reason, or what was breathed in that Manhattan air, concerning that generation of musicians, they left a lot of great literature for us to read (and music too) and for us fans to comment on. Lloyd's book is pretty wonderful in that sense. Superb read.
I have read a lot of books regarding the New York music explosion of the 1970s, including "Please Kill Me" (an excellent book) and various memoirs by musicians of that period (all of them are pretty good). Still, what is Television? And on top of that, who is Tom Verlaine" Richard Lloyd who was one of the remarkable and fascinating characters that came out of the "Please Kill Me" book and even more important, a brilliant guitarist in Television. Verlaine and Lloyd were the bookends, and Billy Ficca (drums) and Fred Smith roamed between those two. Verlaine was and is the primary composer for Television (Hell, when he was in the band, shared songwriting duties, and is brilliant), but that group is constructed like a piece of architecture. Lloyd was part of the building blocks to build this magnificent sound that is Television.
"Everything Is Combustible" is a remarkable memoir, due that Lloyd is a good prose writer and a fascinating guy. Very straightforward, yet metaphysical in his approach to his life, and even with his addictions. He has a mind like a scientist, who wants to analyze the things and people in front of him or in his sights. One of my favorite parts of the book is when Lloyd tries to look at his drug addiction clearly and showed frustration when a medical doctor tries to get him to a 12 step program. At the time, Lloyd wasn't interested in quitting drugs; he just wanted to know in detail the nature of addiction and how it affects the brain/body. In such fashion, he reminds me of William S. Burroughs. To investigate the 'unknown' and somehow try to make it more 'known.'
Lloyd writes his memoir as if it's an original science paper. When he attaches to something, he doesn't let go, until Lloyd masters whatever he desires. His guitar obsession is singular and it's his devotion to the instrument that made him such a remarkable musician. He's egotistical in a sense he knows what he can do, yet his appreciation of other artists are quite open and in its way, a strong focus on him as well. He casually knew Jimi Hendrix as a teenager. I gather he wanted to know what made him such an iconic and fantastic musician. He doesn't look at Hendrix as a fanboy but like a scientist studying in a laboratory. For the mystery part, that is still a mystery to me. The reader gets facts regarding the inner-workings of Television, but what made Tom Verlaine be such an odd fellow? Richard Hell in his memoir wrote about Verlaine, and they were great friends, yet, I didn't feel Hell could penetrate the mystery that's Tom Verlaine. Lloyd doesn't get any closer to Verlaine's character, but you do get great stories about him not using luggage, but laundry or store bags to keep his clothing. The fact is Verlaine is a very strange being and somewhat guarded. One gathers he is a control freak and wants to be in control of Television, but what was it in his background that turn him out that way? Lloyd doesn't answer that question, nor do other memoirists/music historians.
"Everything Is Combustible" is a must-read for those who are fascinated with the CBGB's New York rock world. For whatever reason, or what was breathed in that Manhattan air, concerning that generation of musicians, they left a lot of great literature for us to read (and music too) and for us fans to comment on. Lloyd's book is pretty wonderful in that sense. Superb read.
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| University of California Press |
Bowles as most of us knows as readers is a writer of great skill but also wrote from a great distance. His work, especially his short stories, is reporting another culture, which is odd, strange, and unknown to the westerner. In a sense, Bowles was the head ant investigating the other culture for food and music and reported back to the American culture of that and future time. What you see here is Bowles, primarily a composer at the time, writing about various music recitals/concerts that took place in Manhattan. The majority of the events are classical recitals, but there are some side trips to see jazz (at mostly big venues) and folk (again, in major concert halls of the time). He doesn't go to jazz or folk nightclubs to do his reporting, but mostly to places like Carnegie Hall and so forth. So, in a sense, he's reporting on music culture, not for the specialist, but in most cases for the casual reader who looks through the newspaper for local news or events. Some articles he did write for special interest publications, but even these pieces are geared for a broad readership.
As a writer and a publisher, as well as someone who loves music and music criticism, I find Bowles extremely important. For one, I love his music, what I have heard so far, and two, it's fascinating to notice his 'place' in that society that was New York. He was very interested in other cultures even in the 1940s, and often it seems like he went to South and Central America to discover new music, but was disappointed to realize that even then, countries were officially hindering certain type of music for a more commercial take on that world. Bowles also covered film movie music for a specialist magazine in that field. As far as I can gather, he would go to see the film, and just report on the music how it was used in the film. That's interesting! Also, he reviewed books on music (again, mostly classical, but some books on jazz) as well as recordings. So he was probably one of the earliest critics to talk about records, for a well-read journal/newspaper, the New York Herald Tribune. Also, there is an interview with Bowles, one of his last conversations with an interviewer about him working as a critic. That alone is a fascinating document.
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| Faber & Faber |
I have always been fascinated with the post-war years in London, and "Roots, Radicals and Rockers" is a wonderful journey into the world of contemporary music of that time. Also, fascinating to me is how another culture borrows from another to make something new. I would also recommend this book to anyone who is interested in British Punk rock because they share a similar DIY practice.
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| Kiddiepunk |
One of the characters in this short narrative is named "Blue," and the pages in this book are on light blue paper. I was reading it in a dark bar, and the blue is a nice bath for the eyes, but also in tuned with the character "Blue," as well as the story being sort of a version of the blues. It's a beautifully designed artbook by Michael Salerno and published with great love by Kiddiepunk, who works by the way, with Dennis Cooper. The images or artwork fits in greatly with the narrative. A really nice package. A great read. Now, it must be yours.
- Tosh Berman, December 22, 2017
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